Question

A 77-year-old woman was cooking in the kitchen when she collapsed onto the floor. Her daughter called an ambulance and the woman was taken to the emergency room. She had suffered a stroke, and slowly regained consciousness over the next two days. However, when she woke up, she had the following signs and symptoms:

- paralysis of the right face and arm
- loss of sensation to touch on the skin of the right face and arm
- inability to answer questions but ability to understand what was said to her
- ability to write down her thoughts more easily than to speak them

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Questions:

1. Based upon the patient's symptoms, which cerebral artery was blocked? (Be Specific)

2. Why was she paralyzed in the right face and arm?

3. What is the name of her language disorder, and what caused it?

4. Was this woman's dominant or nondominant hemisphere damaged?

Answer 1

1. Middle cerebral artery could be blocked, which explains her neurological deficits. left internal carotid artery could also be blocked.

2. Left cerebral hemisphere was effected. Paralysis or weakness on the opposite side of your body. Patients paralysis of right face and arm is due to the damage to the face and arm portion of her left primary motor cortex.

3. Broca's aphasia is the name of the language disorder,It is caused by damage to Broca's area in the lateral portion of the frontal lobe.Normaly  Broca's area is involved in higher-level development of the commands necessary for word-finding and language production. In this condition the patients have no difficulty understanding what others are saying but they have inablity to put thoughts into words.

4. Dominant hemisphere is damaged, a stroke of the dominant frontal lobe or the dominant temporal lobe can cause a condition called aphasia