[Auditory and verbal agnosia in the left-handed patient: comparison of neuropsychological data, magnetic resonance and positron emission tomography].

A case of the post-traumatic auditory-and-speech agnosia in a left-handed female patient is presented. The patient (a professional painter) showed satisfactory recovery in painting, speech production, reading and writing, whereas a severe deficit in auditory recognition of speech, melodies and rhythms persisted over time. She was also impaired in some aspects of visual recognition including prosopagnosia. To study this patient comprehensively, a neuropsychological assessment was combined with structural (magnetic resonance imaging-MRI) and metabolic (positron emission tomography--PET) data. Both PET and MRI revealed a large bilateral cortical damage in the medial basal cortex of the frontal, temporal and occipital lobes along with the anterior half of the lateral temporal cortex. In the left hemisphere the damaged area involved the whole temporal lobe, a large part of the occipital lobe and the opercular frontal and parietal regions. The relationship of the symptoms with the brain damage extension is discussed taking into account the left-handedness of the patient.