Transient and persistent right ear extinction in dichotic listening: subcortical lesions
Castro-Caldas, A.; Guerreiro, M.; Confraria, A.
Neurology 34(11): 1418-1422
1984
ISSN/ISBN: 0028-3878 PMID: 6493489 Document Number: 234837
Nine patients with aphasia had right ear extinction in dichotic listening to words in the 1st mo. after an ischemic stroke; they were reassessed after 3 mo. Four showed complete recovery from the right ear extinction; in 5, the abnormality persisted. In those who recovered, CT revealed a subcortical lesion lateral to the frontal horn of the lateral ventricle without a lesion of Heschl's gyrus or geniculo-temporal pathways; a lesion in those structures was found in patients who did not recover. As reported for subcortical aphasia, a subcortical mechanism may explain contralateral ear extinction in dichotic listening.