PakMediNet Discussion Forum : Medicine : Diagnostic quiz
Diagnostic quizA 72 year old woman has a neuroepithelial cyst of the left temporal lobe, incidentally diagnosed with CT scan as a work-up for headaches. She was seen in consultation for episodes of unresponsiveness lasting 2-15 minutes. A diagnosis of seizures was made and patient treated with phenytoin. One episode was witnessed in the hospital during interview. She was unresponsive for 3 minutes. Following this she would partially understand the commands in english but only respond in Ukrainian (her native language). Previously she was quite fluent in english and regained her english after 30 minutes. Based on the information provided can you diagnose her problem? I will post the answer next week.
Posted by: nizamahmed Posts: 18 :: 03-01-2004 :: | Reply to this Message
Re: Diagnostic quizI think neuroepithelial cyst (SOL brain) is obstructing some area in her temporal lobe, producing all these symptoms: transient unresponsiveness and speech problem.
Posted by: docosama Posts: 333 :: 04-01-2004 :: | Reply to this Message
Re: Diagnostic quizThe diagnosis is selective post-ictal aphasia. With electrical stimulation studies, it has been shown that some bilingual patients have two discrete language areas. After cerebrovascular accidents some of these patients are left with major difficulties with one of their language functions. Based on this assumption we diagnosed this patient with selective post-ictal aphasia.
Posted by: nizamahmed Posts: 18 :: 17-01-2004 :: | Reply to this Message