Beyond prosody: foreign accent syndrome in a spanish-speaking patient. case report

ABSTRACT Introduction: Foreign accent syndrome (FAS) is a rare speech disorder. It is becoming increasingly common to find reports of cases about alterations different from the suprasegmental aspects of speech, although these reports are not frequent in Spanish-speaking patients. Case presentation: 48-year-old female patient from Colombia diagnosed with FAS, segmental and suprasegmental speech alterations, and changes in cognitive domains (executive functions and language). The woman also presented with motor and affective changes. Brain imaging studies ruled out structural involvement and follow-up at one year did not show significant changes in speech. Discussion: This case presents the neurological, neuropsychological and speech features of a Spanish-speaking patient with FAS. Greater alteration in vowels than in consonants, alteration in pronunciation time, variation in rhythm and intonation of words and phrases, decrease of time between syllables, and insertion of vowels are common elements between this patient and other cases of FAS in non-Spanish speaking subjects. Conclusions: FAS is essentially a speech alteration; however, it can be accompanied by other physical and psychological signs. This case report allows recognizing the essential components for the definition, diagnosis and intervention of this syndrome.

RESUMEN Introducción. El síndrome de acento extranjero (FAS por su sigla en inglés) es un trastorno infrecuente del habla. Cada vez es más usual encontrar reportes de casos con alteraciones diferentes a los aspectos suprasegmentales del habla; estos no son frecuentes para pacientes hispanohablantes. Presentación del caso. Paciente femenino, colombiana, de 48 años de edad, con FAS y alteraciones segmentales y suprasegmentales del habla y en dominios cognoscitivos (funciones ejecutivas y lenguaje). La mujer también presentó cambios motores y afectivos. Las imágenes cerebrales descartaron compromiso estructural y el seguimiento a un año no evidenció cambios significativos en el habla. Discusión. El caso presenta las características neurológicas, neuropsicológicas y del habla de una paciente hispanohablante con FAS. La mayor alteración en vocales, la alteración en el tiempo de pronunciación, la variación en el ritmo y entonación en palabras y frases, la disminución en el tiempo entre sílaba y sílaba y la inserción de vocales son elementos que esta paciente comparte con otros casos de FAS en sujetos no hispanohablantes. Conclusiones. El FAS se constituye esencialmente por alteración del habla; sin embargo, puede acompañarse de otros signos físicos y psicológicos. El presente reporte de caso permite reconocer los componentes esenciales para la definición, diagnóstico e intervención de este síndrome.

Remisión de aneurisma luego de exéresis de MAV con aparición de síndrome del acento extranjero / Aneurysm remission after MAV surgery with appearance of foreign accent syndrome

Introducción: Los aneurismas asociados a malformaciones arteriovenosas (MAV) son lesiones vasculares que suelen encontrarse hasta en el 15% de los casos, incrementando el riesgo global de hemorragia. La conducta frente a los aneurismas asociados es dicotómica en la literatura, mientras existen reportes de la desaparición de los mismos luego de la exéresis de la MAV, otros artículos enfatizan su tratamiento precoz. El síndrome del acento extranjero es un raro trastorno neurológico en el que el paciente habla su lengua materna como lo haría una persona extranjera y suena con “acento” extranjero a oídos de los oyentes nativos. Objetivo: Presentar un paciente que desarrolla el síndrome del acento extranjero posterior a la exéresis de una MAV y la evolución de un aneurisma asociado. Presentación de caso: Paciente pediátrico que luego de la exéresis de una MAV fronto-opercular posterior izquierda remite por completo un aneurisma de hiperflujo asociado, presentando en el postquirúrgico el síndrome del acento extranjero.Conclusión: Queda reportado el caso de este raro síndrome y la resolución espontánea de un aneurisma proximal luego de la exéresis de una MAV.

Introduction: The aneurysms associated with arteriovenous malformations (AVM) are vascular lesions that are usually found in up to 15% of cases, increasing the overall risk of bleeding. The behavior against associated aneurysms is dichotomous while there are reports of the disappearance of the same after the removal of the AVM, other items emphasize early treatment. Foreign accent syndrome is a rare neurological disorder in which the patient speaks his mother language as you would a foreigner and sounds with foreign "accent" to native listeners.Objective: To report a patient who developed foreign accent syndrome after excision of an AVM and the evolution of an associated aneurysm.Case presentation: pediatric patient that after a resection of fronto-opercular AVM refers back completely on an aneurysm associated hyper flow, presenting postsurgical foreign accent syndrome.Conclusion: the case of this rare syndrome and spontaneous resolution of a proximal aneurysm after excision of an AVM is hereby reported.

Systematic-analysis of Clinical Characteristics of Foreign Accent Syndrome:49 Cases Review / 中国康复理论与实践

Objective To summarize the clinical characteristics of foreign accent syndrome (FAS) among Chinese. Methods The journal articles published in Chinese between 1980 and 2011 were retrieved with three Chinese translated versions of FAS as the key words, and 38 articles in line with the inclusion criteria were systematically analyzed. Results and Conclusion Each year, about (3.06 ± 1.65) cases were published on FAS ever since 1996. The age of FAS patients was averagely around 38.10 years, and of the reported cases, there were 26 males and 23 females, there is no significant difference in gender (χ2=0.184, P=0.668). The etiological factors of FAS were identified mainly as injury (59.19%), stroke (32.65%) and psychogenic disorder (8.16%), and 65.31% of the focus were found at the left side of brain. 85.72%of the FAS patients were seen to be speaking a new dialect used by a larger population. 80%of the patients who didn't suffer from a coma changed their accent in 72 h following the injury, while 72.73%of those once in a coma changed their accent as they gained conscious-ness. The prognosis of FAS was fine, with an improvement rate of 70.83%, and 73.53%of the patients began to recover less than 3 months later following the injury.