Alexia without agraphia

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Alexia without agraphia is a form of alexia which almost always involves an infarct to the left posterior cerebral artery (which perfuses the splenium of the corpus callosum and left visual cortex, among other things).

The resulting deficit will be "Alexia without agraphia" - i.e, the patient can write but cannot read (even what they have just written). This is because the left visual cortex has been damaged, leaving only the right visual cortex (occipital lobe) able to process visual information, but it is unable to send this information to the language areas (Broca's area, Wernicke's area, etc) in the left brain because of the damage to the corpus callosum. [1] [2]

It is also known as "Dejerine syndrome" (after Joseph Jules Dejerine, who described it in 1892[3]), but it should not be confused with medial medullary syndrome, which shares the same eponym.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Nolte, John. The Human Brain, 5th ed. St. Louis, Missouri: Mosby, 2002, p. 552
  2. ^ Baylor Neurology Case of the Month. Retrieved on 2007-06-07.
  3. ^ Imtiaz KE, Nirodi G, Khaleeli AA (2001). "Alexia without agraphia: a century later". Int. J. Clin. Pract. 55 (3): 225–6. PMID 11351780.