Stuttering and Cerebral Ischemia

To the Editor: A 53-year-old right-handed woman had a vascular headache associated with “stuttering.” There was no history of speech disorders. She was admitted to the University of Iowa Hospital. She had prolongations, distortions, and repetitions of speech. She had no aphasia, apraxia, or motor deficit. X-ray films of the skull, cerebrospinal fluid, electroencephalograms and one-hour and five-hour brain scans were normal. A rapid-sequence brain scan demonstrated a mildly decreased blood flow through the left internal carotid and left middle cerebral arteries. The “stuttering” did not decrease in frequency after intravenous amobarbital. Speech gradually became normal during the ensuing eight. No extract is available for articles shorter than 400 words.