Speech initiation hesitation’ following subthalamic nucleus stimulation in a patient with Parkinson’s disease
European Neurology
Moretti, R., Torre, P., Antonello, R. M., Capus, L., Gioulis, M., Marsala, S. Zambito, Cazzato, G., & Bava, A. (2003) Speech initiation hesitation’ following subthalamic nucleus stimulation in a patient with Parkinson’s disease European Neurology, 49(4), 251-253
This article examined speech initiation hesitation in a 68 year-old male with Parkinson’s disease after subthalamic nucleus stimulation (DBS-STN). The researchers found that one-month after his surgery, he reported difficulty in initiating speech. Initial stuttering was very limiting for the patient who began a word 3 to 4 times, repeating the first phoneme or the initial syllable. It is hypothesized that frontal lobe structures of the brain may play a role in language control and that speech initiation hesitation may result from damage to the circuitry between structures that are toward the middle of the brain (in the basal ganglia) and the frontal part of the brain.