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Introduction: The paravermal zone of the right rostral cerebellar hemisphere is an important area for speech function. Recent functional MRI (fMRI) studies reported the significance of lobulus simplex within the rostral cerebellum for speech function. Here, we assess the responsible lesion for dysarthria within the rostral cerebellum. Patients and methods: In order to evaluate the lesion in the rostral cerebellum responsible for cerebellar dysarthria, we compared the locations of infarcts from 4 reported patients with isolated dysarthria caused by cerebellar infarction as well as an additional newly encountered patient in whom cerebellar infarction caused isolated dysarthria. Results: The paravermal zone of the rostral cerebellar hemisphere was involved in all 5 patients. The lesions were located in the lobulus quadrangularis and lobulus simplex in 3 of the patients, and the lobulus simplex and lobulus semilunaris superior in 2 of the patients. The infarcts in 4 of the patients were located on the right side. Conclusion: The lesions in 4 of the patients included the right paravermal zone of the rostral cerebellar hemisphere, which is regarded as an important area for speech function. The lobulus simplex was most highly involved in all 5 patients. We present the importance of lobulus simplex for speech function, as in the fMRI data of previous reports, based on the localization of cerebellar infarcts in patients with isolated dysarthria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]