Keywords

head injury, language deficits

 

Authors

  1. Whelan, Brooke-Mai PhD
  2. Murdoch, Bruce E. PhD, DSc
  3. Bellamy, Nicholas MD, MSc, MBA, FRACP

Abstract

Background: Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) without frank neurological disturbance has been linked to persistent physical, cognitive, and affective disturbances in some cases. The cognitive sequelae of this syndrome represent the most frequently studied symptoms, yet the legacy of such injuries on communicative functions remains largely undetermined.

 

Methods: A detailed language profile of a 19-year-old woman, 1 year 10 months following mTBI is compared with a matched normative cohort of 10 participants with nonneurological impairment.

 

Results: Deficits in attention, lexical access, complex lexical-semantic manipulation, response monitoring, and organization were revealed as a consequence of mTBI.

 

Conclusions: This profile provides support for hypotheses pertaining to neuronal fallout mechanisms within the frontal lobes as a consequence of mild neurological insult.