Left posterior cerebral artery stroke is commonly associated with memory impairment; which symptom is less typical?

• A. Speech Articulation Difficulties
• B. Memory Impairments
• C. Visual Field Deficits
• D. Reading Disturbances

Answer: (A)

A left PCA stroke tends to affect the back part of the brain and the medial temporal memory networks. That makes memory impairment, visual field deficits from optic radiations and occipital involvement, and reading disturbances from occipitotemporal regions common manifestations. Speech articulation difficulties, however, arise mainly from language production areas fed by the left MCA territory, so they are not typical of a PCA stroke. If articulation problems were prominent, it would suggest involvement of the language-motor regions usually supplied by the MCA rather than the PCA.