The term "Broca aphasia" refers to a pathology of a neurological nature. The main symptom of the disease is a loss of communication skill. In other words, a person ceases to speak and understand human speech. Currently, there is an effective treatment regimen for the disease, but the prognosis directly depends on how timely the loved ones delivered the victim to a medical facility.
Development mechanism
Doctors distinguish several language systems:
- Phonological. She is responsible for processing the acoustic signal to the brain. In other words, her task is to analyze the words she heard.
- Morphological. This system analyzes language combinations.
- Syntactic. Responsible for the formation of logical speech in which words are arranged in series.
- Semantic. This is a lexical system.
Normally, all these functions are regulated by Brock's center. It is located in the brain. Under the influence of various adverse factors, the work of the motor speech center is disrupted. In other words, a person simply stops understanding words and talking. In this case, it is customary to talk about the development of Brock's motor aphasia syndrome.
Causes
In most cases, the pathology in question is a consequence of a stroke. Damage to the speech center occurs after a hemorrhage in the brain, more precisely, in its left hemisphere.
In addition, Brock's aphasia can be caused by:
- Neoplasms of both benign and malignant nature.
- Traumatic brain injuries.
- Alzheimer's disease.
- Encephalitis.
- Abscesses.
- Leukoencephalitis.
- Peak's disease.
In addition, Broca's aphasia is sometimes the result of surgery in the brain.
There are certain risk factors that significantly increase the risk of developing a disease. These include:
- Elderly age.
- Hereditary predisposition.
- Blockage of cerebral vessels with atherosclerotic plaques.
- Hypertension.
- Heart defects of a rheumatic character.
- Past transistor ischemic attacks.
It is important to know that Broca aphasia is an acquired disease. It is the loss of precisely the formed speech.
Clinical manifestations
Symptoms of Broca's aphasia are quite specific. The main signs of pathology:
- Slow speech. The patient pronounces the words with difficulty. He uses a minimal set of words to express his thoughts, and he gets tired very quickly.
- Anomie. This term refers to a pathological condition in which it is difficult for the patient to name objects.
- Agrammatism. A person with Broca aphasia cannot make sentences correctly.
- Inability to repeat. Patients sometimes understand what they are told. But at the same time, it is extremely difficult, almost impossible, to repeat the words he heard.
- Awareness of the problem. There are several forms of aphasia. With most of them, a person is firmly convinced that his speech is correct. With Broca aphasia, the patient understands that he had problems.
In some cases, the pathology may be accompanied by neurological symptoms:
- Inability to consciously control the muscles of the face and oral cavity.
- One-sided paresis. In other words, a feeling of weakness is felt only in the left or right side of the face.
- Hemiplegia. This is a condition in which one side of the body is paralyzed.
In addition, patients lose the ability not only to speak, but also to read and write.
Diagnostics
If there are signs of human pathology, it is necessary to deliver to a medical institution. Diagnosis of the disease involves assessing the condition of the patient according to the following criteria:
- Fluency in speech. In the presence of pathology, it is tongue-tied and extremely slow.
- Understanding. It is very difficult to evaluate this indicator, since any incorrect answers may be the result of difficulties with pronunciation.
- Reiteration. The doctor needs to understand how much the patient is able to absorb the information he has heard. In addition, it is important for a specialist to know whether a person can reproduce these words. The ability to recur with Broca aphasia is impaired.
- Memory for the names of objects. In most cases, patients are not able to voice these or those names.
- Automatic sequences. This is one of the linguistic skills in pronouncing sequences that are well known. A striking example is the naming of the months of the year in order.
Based on the results of the study, the doctor makes a diagnosis and is determined with patient management tactics.
Treatment
It directly depends on the severity of the pathology. In some cases, drug therapy and surgery are indicated.
But in most cases, a corrective effect is enough. His tasks:
- Recover and improve writing and speaking skills.
- To help the patient to re-establish interaction with society.
- Improve the quality of human life.
Speech therapists treat Broca's aphasia. If necessary, the patient is referred for consultation to a neuropsychologist.
The corrective action scheme includes the following items:
- Training of memory, computing, reasoning, attention.
- The regular implementation of exercises aimed at developing memory in the names and titles of objects.
- Speech training. The patient is taught to speak again.
- Gradual increase in the length of sentences.
This is only a small part of the work being done with patients suffering from Broca aphasia. The task of doctors is to identify violations and their correction.
Finally
The term "Broca aphasia" refers to a pathological condition characterized by an almost complete loss of communication skills. A person with a formed speech loses the ability to speak and perceive other people's words. In some cases, understanding is maintained, but the patient is not able to reproduce the heard sounds. In most cases, Broca's aphasia is caused by ischemic stroke. When the first signs of an ailment appear, the patient must be taken to a medical facility.