Vandeinse D, Hornyak J E
Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, University of Michigan Hospitals, Ann Arbor 48109-0050, USA.
Pediatr Rehabil. 1997 Jan-Mar;1(1):41-4. doi: 10.3109/17518429709060941.
Cerebellar mutism is a period of transient loss of speech following posterior fossa surgery, usually in children under 15 years of age. To date, cases presented in the literature have addressed primarily the motor speech aspect of the phenomenon, with little documentation relative to higher-level linguistic and cognitive functioning of these children. Recent research, however, is increasingly documenting evidence of cerebellar involvement in language and cognition. This paper describes four children, three of whom presented with a period of mutism following posterior fossa surgery, and one who did not exhibit mutism. All children, however, demonstrated a similar profile of significant high-level linguistic and cognitive deficit on formal speech-language and neuropsychological measures. Documented cases to date are reviewed and compared to these subjects. Literature documenting the role of the cerebellum in language and cognition is summarized and compared to evidence of residual deficits associated with cerebellar mutism as demonstrated by the children in this study.
小脑缄默症是后颅窝手术后出现的一段短暂性言语丧失时期，通常发生在15岁以下的儿童中。迄今为止，文献中报道的病例主要关注该现象的运动性言语方面，而关于这些儿童高级语言和认知功能的记录较少。然而，最近的研究越来越多地记录了小脑参与语言和认知的证据。本文描述了四名儿童，其中三名在后颅窝手术后出现了一段缄默期，一名未表现出缄默症状。然而，所有儿童在正式的言语语言和神经心理学测试中都表现出类似的显著高级语言和认知缺陷特征。对迄今为止记录在案的病例进行了回顾，并与这些受试者进行了比较。总结了记录小脑在语言和认知中作用的文献，并与本研究中儿童所表现出的与小脑缄默症相关的残留缺陷证据进行了比较。
