Longitudinal fMRI study of reading in a patient with letter-by-letter reading.

The present study provides a longitudinal fMRI study of reading 7 days after a hemorrhage in the left basal occipito-temporal region when the patient showed letter-by-letter (LBL) reading, and repeated again 50 days after onset, when his LBL reading had resolved. Direct comparison of the two sessions showed that right homologue of the so called visual word form area (VWFA), as well as a network related to language and verbal working memory, such as the bilateral premotor areas, Broca's area and its right homologue, and the left supplementary motor area were more strongly activated when his LBL reading persisted than when he recovered, whereas perilesional activity around the VWFA and the activity of superior part of the left superior parietal lobule were more strongly activated when he recovered than when his LBL reading persisted. These results suggest that dynamic functional reorganization of the brain was caused in the acute phase and that the increased activation of certain areas in the left superior parietal lobule in addition to the VWFA may be related to recovery from LBL reading.