{"title":"Disentangling a Functional Speech Disorder in the Context of another Neurological Disease: A Case Report.","authors":"Beatriz Stein, Filipa Sotero, José Fonseca","doi":"10.20344/amp.23435","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This clinical case describes the communication profile of a functional speech disorder. A 48-year-old woman was admitted to the emergency service due to sudden changes in speech, generalized dystonia and gait ataxia. Magnetic resonance imaging showed multiple supra and infratentorial inflammatory lesions involving the posterior occipito-temporal lobes bilaterally, frontal convexity bilaterally, insula and paramedian frontal cortex on the left, diencephalon, rhombencephalon. On the third day, a speech pathology evaluation was conducted, revealing inconsistencies in speech: repetitions of initial sounds, without characteristics of an acquired stutter, a clenched articulation, not justified by an orofacial motor disorder, an inconsistent pattern in voice and prosody. Three days later, another assessment was carried out, showing a significant improvement in speech intelligibility. There was a marked variability in speech features defects found over the days, as well as in their severity. These behaviors appear simultaneously with a speech pattern that is not justified by any of the neurological lesions found.</p>","PeriodicalId":7059,"journal":{"name":"Acta medica portuguesa","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0000,"publicationDate":"2025-09-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Acta medica portuguesa","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.20344/amp.23435","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"MEDICINE, GENERAL & INTERNAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
This clinical case describes the communication profile of a functional speech disorder. A 48-year-old woman was admitted to the emergency service due to sudden changes in speech, generalized dystonia and gait ataxia. Magnetic resonance imaging showed multiple supra and infratentorial inflammatory lesions involving the posterior occipito-temporal lobes bilaterally, frontal convexity bilaterally, insula and paramedian frontal cortex on the left, diencephalon, rhombencephalon. On the third day, a speech pathology evaluation was conducted, revealing inconsistencies in speech: repetitions of initial sounds, without characteristics of an acquired stutter, a clenched articulation, not justified by an orofacial motor disorder, an inconsistent pattern in voice and prosody. Three days later, another assessment was carried out, showing a significant improvement in speech intelligibility. There was a marked variability in speech features defects found over the days, as well as in their severity. These behaviors appear simultaneously with a speech pattern that is not justified by any of the neurological lesions found.
期刊介绍:
The aim of Acta Médica Portuguesa is to publish original research and review articles in biomedical areas of the
highest standard, covering several domains of medical
knowledge, with the purpose to help doctors improve medical care.
In order to accomplish these aims, Acta Médica Portuguesa publishes original articles, review articles, case reports and editorials, among others, with a focus on clinical,
scientific, social, political and economic factors affecting
health. Acta Médica Portuguesa will be happy to consider
manuscripts for publication from authors anywhere in the
world.