Dysarthria
Template:DiseaseDisorder infobox
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Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]
Overview
Dysarthria is a speech disorder resulting from neurological injury, characterised by poor articulation (cf aphasia: disorder of the content of speech). Any of the speech subsystems (respiration, phonation, resonance, prosody, articulation and movements of jaw and tongue) can be affected.
Disarthic speech is due to some disorder in the nervous system, which in turn hinders control over for example tongue, throat, lips or lungs. Swallowing problems, dysphagia, are often present.
Cranial nerves that control these muscles include the facial nerve (VII), the glossopharyngeal nerve (IX), the vagus nerve (X), and the hypoglossal nerve (XII).
Classification
- Dysarthria may be classified according to presentation of symptoms into the following:
Type of Dysarthria | Main Feature |
Flaccid | bilateral or unilateral damage to the lower motor neuron |
Spastic | bilateral damage to the upper motor neuron |
Ataxic | damage to cerebellum |
Hyper-kinetic | damage to parts of the basal ganglia |
Hypokinetic | damage to parts of the basal ganglia |
Mixed | more than one type of dysarthria are present |
Pathophysiology
The reasons behind dysarthria can be many; among the diseases are ALS, Parkinson's disease, botulism, cranial nerve lesions, chorea, prion protein related diseases, and cerebral palsy. Dysarthria can also be an early symptom of stroke, and of other forms of traumatic brain injury. More common causes are intoxication and anesthesia, although these are transient. Another possibility is myasthenia gravis.
Causes
Common Causes
- Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
- Botulism
- Brain injury
- Brain tumor
- Cerebral palsy
- Huntington's disease
- Multiple sclerosis
- Myasthenia gravis
- Parkinsonism
- Stroke
- Wilson's disease
Causes by Organ System
Causes in Alphabetical Order
Treatment
The articulation problems that dysarthria causes can be treated together with a speech language pathologist using a range of techniques which sometimes includes strengthening the speech musculature. Devices that make coping with dysarthria easier include speech synthesis software and text-based telephones.