Table 2 Summary of reported cases of Foreign Language Syndrome
Author | Demographics | Context of foreign language syndrome onset | Administered medications | Native language | Second language | Author theory/conclusion |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ward & Marshall (1999) [6] | 54-year-old Caucasian male | Following arthroscopic surgery | Premedication: Ranitidine and Metoclopramide Anesthesia: Midazolam, Propofol, Fentanyl | English | Spanish | A temporal lobe seizure triggered by hypoglycemia led to a postictal phase with suppressed native speech, enabling the emergence of later acquired language |
Cosgrove (2000) [7] | 70-year-old male, undocumented race | Following orthopedic surgery | Anesthesia: Fentanyl and Propofol | English | Hindi | Language switch caused by general anesthesia |
Akpek et al. (2002) [8] | 68-year-old Caucasian male | Postoperative (unknown type of surgery) | Unknown | Czechoslovakian | English | The main language is primarily stored in the subcortical regions’ implicit memory systems, while acquired languages are more broadly distributed across the cerebral cortex |
Male of undocumented age and race | Postoperative (unknown type of surgery) | Unknown | Turkish | English | ||
Webster & Grieve (2005) [9] | 55-year-old Caucasian male | Following otorhinolaryngologic surgery | Premedication: Midazolam Anesthesia: Propofol and Rocuronium Analgesia: Fentanyl | English | Spanish | Native and non-native languages are stored in distinct brain regions, which anesthetics may affect differently, allowing one language to remain active while the other becomes suppressed |
Ivashkov et al. (2016) [10] | 52-year-old Caucasian male | Following orthopedic surgery | Unknown | English | French | Native language suppression could result either from the effects of anesthetic agents or from other cerebral events, such as ischemic conditions |
28-year-old Caucasian male | Following maxillofacial surgery | Anesthesia: Midazolam, Fentanyl, Propofol, Rocuronium, Sevoflurane | English | Spanish | ||
Pollard et al. (2017) [11] | 64-year-old Caucasian male | Following radical cystectomy | Anesthesia: Propofol and Fentanyl Analgesia: Opioid | English | Norwegian | The event likely disrupted the brain region responsible for the native language while sparing the second language area. The phenomenon has been observed exclusively in males, potentially due to the more pronounced left-hemisphere dominance for language processing |
Salamah et al. (2022) [5] | 17-year-old Caucasian male | Following orthopedic surgery | Anesthesia: Sufentanil, Morphine, Propofol, Cefazoline, Efedrine Other: Dexamethasone, Ondansetron | Dutch | English | The foreign language syndrome may be viewed as part of the clinical spectrum of emergence delirium |
Our case | 34-year-old Caucasian male | Neuroleptic malignant syndrome | Lithium, Midazolam, Zolpidem, Quetiapine, Diazepam, Chlorpromazine | Serbian | English | Delirium may be the common underlying factor for the occurrence of foreign language syndrome, both after general anesthesia and in the context of neuroleptic malignant syndrome |