Rinsho Shinkeigaku (Clinical Neurology)

Case Report

Auditory agnosia associated with bilateral putaminal hemorrhage:
A case report of clinical course of recovery

Haruki Tokida, S.T., Ph.D.1), Yuhei Kanaya, M.D.2), Yutaka Shimoe, M.D., Ph.D.2), Madoka Imagawa S.T.3), Shinya Fukunaga S.T., Ph.D.4) and Masaru Kuriyama, M.D., Ph.D.2)

1)Department of Rehabilitation, Brain Attack Center Ota Memorial Hospital
2)Department of Neurology, Brain Attack Center Ota Memorial Hospital
3)Department of Rehabilitation, Fukuyama Memorial Hospital
4)Department of Sensory Sciences, Kawasaki University of Medical Welfare

A 45-year-old right-handed man with a past history (10 years) of putaminal hemorrage presented with auditory agnosia associated with left putaminal hemorrhage. It was suspected that the auditory agnosia was due to bilateral damage in the acoustic radiations. Generalized auditory agnosia, verbal and non-verbal (music and environmental), was diagnosed by neuropsychological examinations. It improved 4 months after the onset. However, the clinical assessment of attention remained poor. The cognition for speech sounds improved slowly, but once it started to improve, the progress of improvement was rapid. Subsequently, the cognition for music sounds also improved, while the recovery of the cognition for environmental sounds remained delayed. There was a dissociation in recovery between these cognitions. He was able to return to work a year after the onset. We also reviewed the literature for cases with auditory agnosia and discuss their course of recovery in this report.
Full Text of this Article in Japanese PDF (475K)

(CLINICA NEUROL, 57: 441|445, 2017)
key words: auditory agnosia, bilateral putaminal hemorrhage, acoustic radiation, recovery course

(Received: 6-Apr-17)