Left thalamic infarction and disturbance of verbal memory: A clinicoanatomical study with a new method of computed tomographc stereotaxic lesion localization

A 41‐year‐old right‐handed man developed disturbances of language and memory after a discrete thalamic infarction. Detailed neuropsychological assessment revealed deficits in verbal fluency, word finding, confrontation naming, and anterograde memory for verbal material. High‐resolution computed tomography with stereotaxic lesion localization permitted the determination of the thalamic nuclei involved in the infarction. We suggest that the patient's problem in language and verbal memory reflected a defect in memory processing for verbal material during registration, retention, and retrieval, and that this defect probably resulted from a left anterior thalamic lesion affecting the ventrolateral nucleus, centromedian‐parafascicular nuclei complex, internal medullary lamina, or mamillothalamic tract.