Brain Imaging Sample Cases
Partner Activity
CSAD 127 – Intro to Medical Speech Pathology
Aishah Patterson, Ph.D., CCC-SLP
Case I
Case of a 32-year-old woman who
presented with persistent right sided
headaches.
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What imaging techniques would you be
interested in seeing on this patient?
Partner Work
Case I
What appear to be the patient’s areas of
strength/weakness?
Consider these three
questions for Case I.
What areas would you (as an SLP) be
interested in assessing further?
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 A 32-year-old woman presented with persistent right
sided headaches. A work-up revealed that she had an
arteriovenous malformation (AVM) of the right
posterior temporal lobe, going into the deep white
matter.
Partner Work
Case I
 An arteriovenous malformation is an abnormal
connection between arteries and veins. An
arteriovenous malformation can be found anywhere
arteries and veins operate, but occur most often in
the brain or spine.
 AVMs are rare and affect less than 1% of the
population. AVMs usually cause intense pain or
bleeding and can lead to other serious medical
problems like brain damage or stroke.
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Case II
Case of a 10-year-old girl, where the right
hemisphere of her brain failed to develop
in utero.
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What imaging techniques would you be
interested in seeing on this patient?
Partner Work
Case II
What appear to be the patient’s areas of
strength/weakness?
Consider these three
questions for Case II.
What areas would you (as an SLP) be
interested in assessing further?
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 A 10-year-old girl in Germany, where the right
hemisphere of her brain failed to develop in the
womb, is the only known case in the world where
an individual has both fields of vision in one eye.
Partner Work
Case II
 The girl’s brain has rewired itself in order to
process information from the R and L visual
fields, despite not having a right hemisphere.
 Normally the L and R visual fields are processed
and mapped on opposite sides of the brain, but
scans reveal nerve fibers that should go to the R
hemisphere of the brain are diverted to the left.
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 Despite the missing R hemisphere, the girl has
normal psychological function. The underdeveloped
brain was not discovered until age three, after being
scanned secondary to seizures and brief involuntary
twitching on the L side.
Partner Work
Case II
 The girl presents with L hemiparesis and successfully
treated seizures, but otherwise has normal
developmental medical history, attends regular
school, and participates in activities such as rollerskating.
 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1200958/Girl-born-half-brain-person-world-fieldsvision-eye.html
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