Türk Nöroşirürji Dergisi 2009 , Vol 19 , Num 2
Posttraumatic Mutism: A Report of Two Cases
Ali İhsan ÖKTEN1, Önder OKAY2, Yurdal GEZERCAN3
1,3Adana Numune Eğitim ve Araştırma Hastanesi, Nöroşirürji Kliniği, Seyhan, Adana, Türkiye
2Ankara Numune Eğitim ve Araştırma Hastanesi, Nöroşirürji Kliniği, Ankara, Türkiye
Mutism is a clinical state characterized by the complete absence of speech without any symptoms of aphasia or changes in level of consciousness. Epilepsy or tumor surgery, stroke and psychosis are most commonly defined etiological factors for mutism. Either surgical or traumatic lesions of anterior cingular gyrus, premotor area, corpus callosum, ventral lateral thalamus, periaqueductal gray matter, basal ganglions, frontal lobes, dentate nucleus, vermis and dentothalamocortical pathways may be responsible for mutism. It is transient in most of the cases. Speech becomes normal after a short period of dysarthria. Traumatic lesions responsible for mutism may be best revealed by Fluid Attenuated Inversion Recovery Magnetic Resonans (FLAIR-MR) imaging studies. Posttraumatic mutism is rarely defined in the literature. In the present study, we report two cases of mutism related to frontal and cerebellar traumatic injury. Anahtar Kelimeler : Mutism, Head injury, Cerebellum, Frontal lobe