Language Disorder, Convulsive and Electroencephalographic

Abstract

A progressive loss of comprehension and production of language occurred in three patients over a period of weeks to months, then plateaued into a stable, prolonged aphasia. The language disorder was associated with seizures which either preceded or shortly followed the onset of language loss. The seizures responded easily to anticonvulsants. Recovery from aphasia was incomplete, but comprehension of written language preceded comprehension of oral language. It is postulated that the pathophysiologic process involves bilateral temporal lobes, and that the origin is either a slowly evolving focal encephalitis or is related, in some unknown way, to convulsive disorder.