Isolated inability to write cursively after transient ischemic attack (TIA).

OBJECTIVE

To examine the different aspects of language and its representation in the brain.

BACKGROUND

Apractic agraphia, a form of mechanical agraphia, is produced by lesions in the left superior parietal lobe. However, little is known about the dissociation between allographic level representations for cursive writing and printing.

METHOD

A 78-year-old right-handed patient with a history of transient ischemic attack was evaluated by interview, neurologic and neuropsychiatric examination, neuropsychologic testing, speech and language evaluation, and functional neuroimaging (single photon emission computed tomography).

RESULTS

The patient exhibited a disorder strictly limited to cursive writing resulting from ischemic damage to parietal and occipital lobes bilateral.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings support the assertion that printing and cursive writing are represented differentially and an isolated deficit in any of them can be the only presentation of disorder of language organization, secondary to brain damage in left superior parietal area.