Adult crossed aphasia in dextrals revisited.

The clinical study of crossed aphasia in dextrals (CAD) may shed light on the discreteness and modularity of several cognitive functions, such as language, gestures and visual spatial abilities, with respect to hemispheric lateralisation. Since 1975 over 180 cases have been described, employing, however, different criteria of assessment and classification. The purpose of this paper is to review them and to propose a set of diagnostic criteria that may be useful to single out a series of reliable CAD cases on which research can be safely carried out. A detailed analysis of such series is dealt with in terms of a number of characteristics concerning both the language disorder and the associated nonverbal cognitive impairments.