Language testing during awake "anesthesia" in a bilingual patient with brain lesion adjacent to Wernicke's area

Awake "anesthesia" is the preferable anesthetic approach for neurosurgical procedures that require intraoperative localization of . We describe intraoperative inducible selective English aphasia in a bilingual (English and Italian) patient undergoing awake anesthesia for excision of a brain lesion adjacent to Wernicke's area with no postoperative neurological sequelae. We discuss the importance of intraoperative brain mapping and intraoperative language testing in bilingual patients to prevent iatrogenic-related morbidity.