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- Dysarthria is a motor speech abnormality that commonly results from stroke and is related to focal muscular deficits in the face.
- One of the most challenging aspects of recognizing dysarthria relates to distinguishing it from apraxia.
- Apraxia has nothing to do with a focal motor deficit, but rather a cortical deficit which results in an inability to optimally execute the function of the facial musculature.
- Isolated dysarthria without other neurologic deficit, termed pure dysarthria, is rare and thought to result from multiple lacunar infarcts causing hypoperfusion of the frontal cortex.
References
- Okuda, et al. "Cerebral Blood Flow in Pure Dysarthria: Role of Frontal Cortical Hypoperfusion." Stroke 30: 109-13. 1999.