[Different types of aphasia caused by cerebral hemorrhage in the left frontal lobe: Broca's aphasia and Broca area's aphasia].

We reported two cases of aphasia that exhibited different characteristics of aphasia following cerebral hemorrhage in the left frontal lobe involving the Broca's area. Case 1 is a 74-year-old right-handed woman. She was hospitalized with speech disturbance. Spontanoues speech was fluent and articulation was normal, but she showed verbal paraphasia and speech perseveration. She demonstrated a preserved ability to repeat short sentences and was able to read words aloud. This type of aphasia is called "Broca area's aphasia". MRI and CT showed hematoma involving the left inferior frontal lobe, operculum and insula cortex. Single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) showed low perfusion in the frontal lobe without involvement of the postcentral gyrus. Case 2 is a 76-year-old right-handed man. He was also hospitalized with speech disturbance. Spontanoues speech was non-fluent and articulation was poor. He sometimes showed phonemic paraphasia with anarthria, but he demonstrated a preserved ability to repeat short sentences. He was able to read words aloud in a manner comparatively similar to. This type of aphasia is called "Broca's aphasia". MRI and CT showed hematoma involving the left inferior frontal lobe, operculum and precentral cortex. SPECT revealed low perfusion in the frontal lobe extending to the postcentral gyrus. We supposed that the different characteristics of aphasia in those cases were due to extended lesion in the frontal lobe.