This rare syndrome has been documented in a patient with prostate cancer.
A few days ago, the British Medical Journal relayed the case of a United States citizen with a rare foreign accent syndrome.
In his fifties, the patient suffering from prostate cancer developed during his treatment a “uncontrollable Irish accent”said researchers from Duke University in North Carolina and the Carolina Urologic Research Center in South Carolina.
Un syndrome rare
The patient had never been to Ireland before, although he had lived in England when he was in his twenties, and distant family members and friends were of Irish descent. He kept this pronunciation for a little less than two years, before his death.
The most common causes of foreign accent syndrome are strokes and head trauma affecting the language-processing dominant hemisphere, as well as brain metastasis and multiple sclerosis.
Associated with this cancer, a unique case
Scientists report:
To our knowledge, this is the first case of the syndrome described in a patient with prostate cancer and the third described in a patient with a malignant tumor.
According to them, the syndrome is the consequence of the proliferation “multifocal brain metastases” having caused a “paraneoplastic neurological disorder” which then attacked the immune system, certain parts of the brain and the nervous system of man.
Speech therapy can overcome it
The British daily Guardian indicates that the foreign accent syndrome is either permanent or interrupted by speech therapy sessions.
During World War II, a young Norwegian had developed a German accent following a bombing, making her look like a spy.