Why a cancer patient who had never been to Ireland developed an Irish brogue: case
The US patient's foreign accent syndrome was the first sign that his prostate cancer had progressed, his doctors report
When a middle-aged US patient with prostate cancer suddenly developed an uncontrollable ‘Irish brogue’, his doctors were stumped.
Aged in his 50s, the man had never been to Ireland, nor had he previously spoken in an Irish accent, the treating clinicians wrote in BMJ Case Reports.
In the absence of any neurological or psychiatric abnormalities, he was diagnosed with foreign accent syndrome (FAS).
The case continued to puzzle his doctors until they discovered the abnormal speech pattern was a signal that the patient’s prostate cancer had progressed, despite reassuring initial test results.
