Alexia for Braille following bilateral occipital stroke in an early blind woman

Recent functional imaging and neurophysiologic studies indicate that the occipital cortex may play a role in Braille reading in congenitally and early blind subjects. We report on a woman blind from birth who sustained bilateral occipital damage following an ischemic stroke. Prior to the stroke, the patient was a proficient Braille reader. Following the stroke, she was no longer able to read Braile yet her somatosensory perception appeared otherwise to be unchanged. This case supports the emerging evidence for the recruitment of striate and prestriate cortex for Braille reading in early blind subjects. (C) 2000 Lippincott Williams and Wilkins.