MRI and the study of aphasia

Three-dimensional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was used to study various aphasia and neurobehavioral syndromes due to embolic or thrombotic cerebral infarction. Two patients are presented to illustrate how MRI may complement, and sometimes improve on, CT for the in vivo demonstration of anatomic changes underlying said syndromes. MRI images were reconstructed at planes selected to match CT, and at coronal planes through the entire anteroposterior extent of the lesions. Both CT and MRI detected lesions; however, MRI provided better differentiation of gray and white matter. Coronal reconstructions aid in optimally visualizing the relationship of lesions to the opercular and perisylvian gyri. CT may be inadequate to define actual extent of lesions, whereas MRI may more clearly show that apparently subcortical lesions can, in fact, involve the cortex as well.