Comparison of improvement of aphasia in three patients with lesions in anterior, posterior, and antero-posterior language areas

Three aphasic patients with different degrees of impairment and with lesions in language areas which predict different degrees of improvement are described. At follow up, patient RD, with an anterior lesion and Broca's aphasia, demonstrated very poor improvement and outcome; patient LAB, with a lesion of posterior language areas and Wernicke's aphasia, had very good improvement and outcome. Finally, patient GH, with a lesion of both anterior and posterior language areas and global aphasia, had the best improvement and an outstanding outcome. We conclude that severity of aphasia and site of lesion, which are powerful prognostic factors in groups of patients, cannot be considered unfailing predictors of improvement and outcome in single patients.