Cerebellar Aphasia: A Case Report

The cerebellum has a widely understood motor function, but since the 1980s, its involvement in cognitive functions has been studied. The main problems affected in patients with cerebellar lesions are grammatical structure failures, the comprehension of syntactically complex sentences, and impaired verbal fluency. Objective: To present a clinical case of cerebellar aphasia and the language impairments presented. Case presentation: We describe the case of a 31-year-old patient who presented cerebellar degeneration as a paraneoplastic syndrome due to non-Hodkin’s lymphoma. The Western aphasia test was administered, as well as conceptual language proficiency. A qualitative analysis of expressive and receptive speech was performed. Discussion: It is important to consider the involvement of the cerebellum in cognitive functions, primarily language, which may present as deficiencies in expressive and receptive language. Conclusion: Cerebellar aphasia is a little-known pathology, with primary involvement in morpho-syntax, semantic association and verbal fluency, requiring multidisciplinary management and comprehensive assessment.

Keywords: Cerebellum, Cerebellar Aphasia, Verbal Fluency.