Broca’s area , wernicke’s area, and other language-processing areas in the brain
Researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center have found that loss of speech from a stroke in the left hemisphere of the brain can be recovered on the back, right side of the brain. This contradicts recent notions that the right hemisphere interferes with recovery. While the findings will likely not put an immediate end to the debate, they suggest a new direction in treatment.
This is the first to look at brain structure and grey matter volume when trying to understand how speech is recovered after a stroke. Results show that patients who have regained their voice have increased grey matter volume in the back of their right hemisphere – mirroring the location of one of the two left hemisphere speech areas.
“Over the past decade, researchers have increasingly suggested that the right hemisphere interferes with good recovery of language after left hemisphere strokes,” says assistant Prof. Peter Turkeltaub, MD, PhD. “Our results suggest the opposite – that right hemisphere compensation improves recovery.”
~1/3 of stroke survivors lose speech and language ie aphasia – and most never fully regain it. Turkeltaub says loss of speech occurs almost exclusively in patients with a left hemisphere stroke – 70% of people with left hemisphere strokes have language problems.
The investigators found that stroke study participants who had better than expected speech abilities after their stroke had more grey matter in the back of the right hemisphere vs stroke patients with worse speech. Those areas of the right hemisphere were also larger in the stroke survivors than in the control group, Turkeltaub says. “This indicates growth in these brain areas that relates to better speech production after a stroke.” They are now looking for areas that compensate for other aspects of language use, such as comprehension of speech, not just use of speech. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-11/gumc-raw110315.php
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