Atypical language organization following perinatal infarctions of the left hemisphere is associated with structural changes in right-hemispheric grey matter.

Aim: To assess how atypical language organization after early left-hemispheric brain lesions affects grey matter in the contralesional hemisphere.

Method: This was a cross-sectional study with between-group comparisons of 14 patients (six female, 8-26 years) with perinatal left-hemispheric brain lesions (two arterial ischemic strokes, 11 periventricular haemorrhagic infarctions, one without classification) and 14 typically developing age-matched controls (TDC) with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) documented left-hemispheric language organization (six female, 8-28 years). MRI data were analysed with SPM12, CAT12, and custom scripts. Language lateralization indices were determined by fMRI within a prefrontal mask and right-hemispheric grey matter group differences by voxel-based morphometry (VBM).

Results: FMRI revealed left-dominance in seven patients with typical language organization (TYP) and right-dominance in seven patients with atypical language organization (ATYP) of 14 patients. VBM analysis of all patients versus controls showed grey matter reductions in the middle temporal gyrus of patients. A comparison between the two patient subgroups revealed an increase of grey matter in the middle frontal gyrus in the ATYP group. Voxel-based regression analysis confirmed that grey matter increases in the middle frontal gyrus were correlated with atypical language organization.

Interpretation: Compatible with a non-specific lesion effect, we found areas of grey matter reduction in patients as compared to TDC. The grey matter increase in the middle frontal gyrus seems to reflect a specific compensatory effect in patients with atypical language organization.

What This Paper Adds: Perinatal stroke leads to decreased grey matter in the contralesional hemisphere. Atypical language organization is associated with grey matter increases in contralesional language areas.