Rehabilitation Treatment Involving Language Evaluation and Training Considering Poor Japanese Proficiency of Hongkongese Patient with Brain Tumor：A Case Report / The Japanese Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine

ABSTRACT

Since foreign patients may have inadequate Japanese language proficiency, rehabilitation techniques and evaluations of the higher brain and language function are often challenging. Here, we report a Hongkongese patient who suffered from higher brain dysfunction and dysgraphia after brain surgery. The patient was a 29-year-old left-handed man admitted to the Osaka International Cancer Institute for surgical resection of a choroid plexus tumor located on the trigone in the right lateral ventricle. Since the patient's mastery of the Japanese language was poor on preoperative evaluation, we partially evaluated his higher brain functions in Cantonese and English. However, he experienced left hemispatial neglect and spatial dysgraphia on postoperative day (POD) 2. On POD 48, his spatial dysgraphia (mainly in Cantonese) and higher brain functions improved with rehabilitation treatment, which involved verbal and non-verbal techniques such as task presentation and pointing. Although rehabilitation tasks and techniques are difficult due to language barriers, non-verbal techniques can be effective in providing treatment. Furthermore, it is important to evaluate the patient's language proficiency on preoperative assessment, especially in non-native Japanese speakers.