Hemispheric lateralization of motor and speech functions after early brain lesion: study of 73 epileptic patients with intracarotid amytal test.

This study reports results of a bilateral intracarotid amytal test in 73 epileptic patients with medically intractable focal seizures. No right-handers but 50% of left-handers have a right dominance for speech in this particular population. Lateralization of cerebral speech functions, as well as manual preference, are dependent on the neurological disease and can shift conjointly or independently. We study the relationships of those shifts to different variables related to the cerebral pathology: age at onset and lateralization of epilepsy, extensive brain damage, neurological deficit.