A brain activation study using SPECT and 133Xe in a deep dysphasic patient with left temporal lesion is presented. The activation paradigm consisted of a passive listening to foreign language as baseline, a phoneme monitoring condition and a semantic word monitoring condition. The specific activation of the right middle temporal cortex observed in the semantic condition is congruent with the hypothesis of a compensatory role of the right hemisphere in processing concrete words. This case illustrates the interest of functional imaging for a better understanding of neural mechanisms of functional recovery after brain injury.