paralysis of the muscles of the lower face, arm, and leg on one side of the body. The most common cause of hemiplegia is damage to the corticospinal tracts in one hemisphere of the brain due to obstruction or rupture of a cerebral artery or to brain tumour. The corticospinal tracts extend from the lower spinal cord to the cerebral cortex. They decussate, or cross, in the brainstem; therefore, damage to the right cerebral hemisphere results in paralysis of the left side of the body. Damage to the left hemisphere of a right-handed person may also result in aphasia.