(ă-fā′zh(ē-)ă)

[ Gr. aphasia, speechlessness]
Absent or impaired ability to communicate by speech, writing, or signs because of brain dysfunction. It is considered complete or total when both sensory and motor areas are involved.
SEE: alalia

acquired epileptiform aphasia

SEE: Landau-Kleffner syndrome.

amnesic aphasia

SEE: Anomic aphasia.

anomic aphasia

Aphasia marked by an inability to name objects; loss of memory for words.

auditory aphasia

SEE: Word deafness.

Broca aphasia

SEE: Motor aphasia.

conduction aphasia

Aphasia marked by an inability to repeat what one has heard and by impaired writing and finding the right word.

crossed aphasia

Aphasia that develops paradoxically in a right-handed person after a stroke or lesion affecting the right hemisphere.

executive aphasia

SEE: Motor aphasia.

fluent aphasia

Aphasia in which words are easily spoken but are incorrect and may be unrelated to the content of the other words spoken.

global aphasia

Aphasia involving all forms of communication; total inability to communicate.

infantile acquired aphasia

SEE: Landau-Kleffner syndrome.

jargon aphasia

Aphasia that uses jargon or disconnected words.

mixed aphasia

Combined receptive and expressive aphasia.

motor aphasia

Aphasia in which patients know what they want to say but cannot say it because of their inability to coordinate the muscles controlling speech. It may be complete or partial. The Broca area is disordered or diseased.
SYN: SEE: aphemia; SEE: Broca aphasia; SEE: executive aphasia

nominal aphasia

Inability to name objects.

nonfluent aphasia

Aphasia marked by limited vocabulary, hesitant speech, awkward pronunciation, and limited use of grammar but with fairly well preserved auditory comprehension.

optic aphasia

Aphasia marked by inability to name an object recognized by sight without the aid of sound, taste, or touch.

primary progressive aphasia

ABBR: PPA A form of dementia marked by the inability to recall the names of things, to read, or to express oneself with speech The disorder gradually worsens and may ultimately produce other cognitive deficits. Early in the course of the disease, other brain functions of daily living are preserved, e.g., understanding speech, behaving properly, and practicing hobbies. PPA is associated with nonspecific degeneration of neurons in the left hemisphere of the brain.
SYN: SEE: Mesulam syndrome; SEE: progressive nonfluent aphasia

progressive nonfluent aphasia

SEE: Primary progressive apahasia.

semantic aphasia

Inability to understand the meanings of words.

sensory aphasia

Inability to understand spoken words if the auditory word center is involved (auditory aphasia) or written words if the visual word center is affected (word blindness). If both centers are involved, the patient will understand neither spoken nor written words.

syntactic aphasia

Inability to use proper grammatical constructions.

transcortical aphasia

Aphasia in which the ability to repeat words is preserved but other language functions are impaired.

traumatic aphasia

Aphasia caused by head injury.

visual aphasia

SEE: Alexia.

Wernicke aphasia

SEE: Wernicke, Carl