Abstract

With a great number of bilingual individuals in the world, there is a growing need for understanding and studying language. In cases of bilingual aphasia, patterns of language recovery can vary.

Case report: The present case refers to a male patient, 52 years old, right-handed, born in Arkansas-United States of America and resident for 20 years in the city of Santos, São Paulo. The patient is bilingual fluent in English and Portuguese and had a sudden language disorder associated with a right-sided strength and sensitivity deficit; Imaging exams showed a left lenticular nucleus hemorrhagic stroke. In the language assessment, he presented an important impairment of fluency, compression and repetition in the Portuguese language and relative preservation, with slight dysfunction in fluency in the English language. Symptomatic treatment was instituted with partial improvement of the symptoms.

Keywords: bilingual aphasia; hemorrhagic stroke.

Citation: Brooks JBB, Prosdócimi FC, Da Silva GR, Varela IA, Sá KMM, et al. Bilingual aphasia as the initial presentation of a hemorrhagic stroke: Case report. J Clin Images Med Case Rep. 2021; 2(5): 1372.

Introduction

With the largest number of bilingual individuals in the world, there is a growing need for understanding and studying language in different populations. In cases of bilingual aphasia, patterns of language recovery can vary. Parallel, or simultaneous, recovery in both languages is the most common type of language recovery, followed by differential recovery, where there is an improvement in one language compared to another [1-5]. Here, we present a case of bilingual aphasia as the initial presentation of a hemorrhagic stroke.

The report of this case was submitted and approved by the ethics committee of Universidade Metropolitana de Santos.

Case presentation

The present case refers to a male patient, 52 years old, right-handed, born in Arkansas-United States of America and resident for 20 years in the city of Santos, São Paulo. The patient is bilingual fluent in English and Portuguese and had a sudden language disorder associated with a right-sided strength and sensitivity deficit; Personal background was unremarkable, except for high blood pressure. During hospital assessment with neurological department, right-sided proportionate and complete paresis (grade 4) and paresthesia were found. In the language assessment, he presented an important impairment of fluency, compression and repetition in the Portuguese language and relative preservation, with slight dysfunction in fluency in the English language. Non-Enhanced axial CT scan showed a leflenticular nucleus acute hemorrhagic stroke (Figure 1). Laboratorial examination were normal. Symptomatic treatment was instituted and after 12 months he had partial improvement of motor symptoms and complete improvement in aphasia.

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