A Case Report of Speech Disorders Following Bilateral Congenital Abnormality in Globus Pallidus

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 MSc of anatomical sciences, Department of anatomical sciences and cell biology, MashhadUniversity of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran

2 PhD candidate of neuroscience, neuroscience research center, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran

3 Associate professor of Neuroanatomy, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran

Abstract

Introduction
Bilateral basal ganglia abnormality, especially in globus pallidus, is a rare disorder of young childhood that can result in variety of problems such as speech disorders.
Case report
A 7.5 -year-old male child was referred by multiple problems such as disorders of gag reflex and swallowing, voice tremor, monoton speech and weakness of mastication muscles. The patient's MRI scan revealed bilateral focal lesions in the globus pallidus with unclear reason. He had failed to respond to drug treatment, so he went on rehabilitation therapy when his problem progressed.
Conclusion
Because of their association with cerebral cortex, especially with Broca's area, the basal ganglia can influence the motor features of speech. Probably in the present patient, disturbances in the circuits between the basal ganglia and the language motor area of the cerebral cortex resulted in motor speech disorders. However, more investigations needed to be done.

Keywords