Sudden onset of an Irish accent? Is that a thing? An American man believes it is, according to the Daily Wire.
According to the BMJ Case Reports, an anonymous prostate cancer patient receiving treatment at a prestigious medical center suddenly started speaking with an Irish accent, and no one knows precisely why.
The man was being treated at Duke University Medical Center in North Carolina. Researchers believe an immune system response may have caused the odd phenomenon. The 50-year-old patient has never been to the Emerald Isle and does not have immediate family from there. While in his 20s, he had lived in England and had some Irish friends and distant family members.
The patient was diagnosed with foreign accent syndrome. This rare condition occurs when a person suddenly presents with speech patterns that differ from their native accent without picking up those speech patterns from a native place.
According to The Guardian, most of the time, the effects are temporary and can be corrected with speech therapy, but sometimes, the change is permanent. A stroke often brings on the condition; a developmental disorder, head trauma, brain lesions, migraines, or mental illness can also cause it.
The BMJ Case Reports noted, A man in his 50s with metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer, receiving androgen deprivation therapy and abiraterone acetate/prednisone, presented with an uncontrollable Irish brogue accent despite no Irish background consistent with foreign accent syndrome (FAS). He had no neurological examination abnormalities, psychiatric history, or MRI of the brain abnormalities at symptom onset. Imaging revealed progression of his prostate cancer, despite undetectable prostate-specific antigen levels.
The Daily Wire reported the BMJ Case Reports showed that the patients accent was uncontrollable, present in all settings, and gradually became persistent.
One of the reports authors told Newsweek it is challenging to find a cause for the weird phenomenon because it is so new. Dr. Andrew Armstrong of Duke Medical Centers Divisions of Medical Oncology and Urology continued, We dont have a smoking gun explanation in this case. Other possibilities are psychological, although he did not have major issues with anxiety or depression and actually was fairly amused by this FAS development.
The patient, who unfortunately did not respond well to chemotherapy and later passed away, continued speaking in the Irish accent for 20 months of prostate cancer treatment. Dr. Armstrong said this was his first case and it is quite rare to see in oncology.
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