Karanasios P, Loukopoulou P, Zampakis P, Tiligadas T, Makridou A, Doukas V, Argyriou AA. Foreign accent syndrome caused by a left temporal-parietal ischaemic stroke.
Aim: We present the first reported case of a Greek patient with foreign accent syndrome (FAS) secondary to a left temporal-parietal ischemic stroke.
Case report: A 76 year-old right-handed, Greek in origin, male was referred because he had suddenly manifested changes in speech expression. The neurological examination revealed that his prior typical English-Australian accent resembled a mixture of Greek and English-Britain accent consistent with FAS, though he had visited only once Greece the last 15 years and never had been to United Kingdom.
Results: A brain Magnetic Resonance Imaging scan depicted an ischemic temporal lesion in the language-dominant left hemisphere, affecting the left posterior superior and middle temporal gyri, as well as the ipsilateral inferior supramarginal angular gyrus and posterior insula.
Conclusion: We might suggest that FAS in our patient was induced because of interrupted cortical-subcortical feedback pathways. The phenomenon of subcortical-cortical diaschisis might also have contributed to its clinical manifestation.