Unilateral Upper Motor Neuron Dysarthria

UUMN Dysarthria

unilateral damage to the UMN pathways that carry impulses to the cranial nerves and spinal nerves that supply the speech muscles

What pathways does UUMN affect?

DAP and IAP

Does it have unilateral or bilateral weakness?

Unilateral weakness

Severity and timeline

Usually considered a mild and temporary dysarthria

Clinical characteristics

-contralateral hemiplegia or hemiparesis

-weakness later turning into spasticity is usually present in the affected limbs

-weakness is usually seen acutely, with spasticity and hypotonia developing later

-contralateral lower facial weakness

Etiologies

-any damage that is unilateral

-unilateral stroke (most common)

-unilateral surgical trauma

-almost always a vascular etiology

Clinical findings

-unilateral facial weakness (lower face; contralateral involvement)

-unilateral lingual weakness

-usually co-occur

-jaw is usually normal

Velopharyngeal function

usually normal, but has been found to be unilaterally weak in small number of patients

Upper and lower extremities

hemiparesis contralateral to the side of the lesion

Cognitive-linguistic deficits

associated with site of lesion; right hemisphere dysfunction or other language deficits associated with left hemisphere language functions

Speech findings

-imprecise articulation (consonants)

-imprecise AMRs

-slow AMRs

-possibly mild dysphonia

-deficits are usually mild to moderate