Article
Rehabilitation
Julius Fridriksson, Alexandra Basilakos, Mary Boyle, Leora R. Cherney, Gayle DeDe, Jean K. Gordon, Stacy M. Harnish, Elizabeth L. Hoover, William D. Hula, Rebecca Hunting Pompon, Lorelei Phillip Johnson, Swathi Kiran, Laura L. Murray, Miranda L. Rose, Jessica Obermeyer, Christos Salis, Grant M. Walker, Nadine Martin
Summary: Behavioral communication treatment is supported as the standard of care for aphasia. The lack of a common framework to describe individual treatments hinders progress in the field. The Rehabilitation Treatment Specification System (RTSS) provides a systematic way to characterize aphasia treatment approaches, improving communication and facilitating comparisons.
ARCHIVES OF PHYSICAL MEDICINE AND REHABILITATION
(2022)
Article
Neurosciences
Sigfus Kristinsson, Wanfang Zhang, Chris Rorden, Roger Newman-Norlund, Alexandra Basilakos, Leonardo Bonilha, Grigori Yourganov, Feifei Xiao, Argye Hillis, Julius Fridriksson
Summary: Recent studies have combined multiple neuroimaging modalities to predict aphasia severity and specific language measures using machine learning approaches. The multimodal prediction model showed the most accurate prediction, indicating that integrating different neuroimaging modalities can more accurately depict the impact of brain damage and intact brain tissue functionality on language function in aphasia.
HUMAN BRAIN MAPPING
(2021)
Article
Rehabilitation
Leora R. Cherney, Gayle DeDe, Elizabeth L. Hoover, Laura Murray, Jessica Obermeyer, Rebecca Hunting Pompon
Summary: There are various approaches to rehabilitating patients with aphasia, and functional communication interventions aim to enhance communication success. The Rehabilitation Treatment Specification System (RTSS) provides a framework for describing functional communication interventions, including a target, ingredients, and a mechanism of action. Applying the RTSS framework can help understand the important elements of functional communication treatments for aphasia.
ARCHIVES OF PHYSICAL MEDICINE AND REHABILITATION
(2022)
Article
Clinical Neurology
Monika Jungblut, Christiane Mais, Ferdinand Christoph Binkofski, Andre Schueppen
Summary: This study indicates that directed rhythmic-melodic voice training is more effective than language therapy in improving expressive linguistic performance of chronic non-fluent aphasia patients. Significant improvements were observed in articulation, prosody, repetition, naming, and comprehension levels. The therapy also led to increased profile level, and fMRI examinations showed activation in specific brain regions related to executive processing, supporting the efficacy of the treatment.
JOURNAL OF NEUROLOGY
(2022)
Article
Clinical Neurology
Miranda L. Rose, Lyndsey Nickels, David Copland, Leanne Togher, Erin Godecke, Marcus Meinzer, Tapan Rai, Dominique A. Cadilhac, Joosup Kim, Melanie Hurley, Abby Foster, Marcella Carragher, Cassie Wilcox, John E. Pierce, Gillian Steel
Summary: This study investigated the therapeutic benefits of Constraint-Induced Aphasia Therapy Plus (CIAT-plus) and/or Multimodality Aphasia Therapy (M-MAT) compared to usual community care for post-stroke aphasia patients. Both CIAT-Plus and M-MAT showed significant improvements in word retrieval, functional communication, and quality of life, while the usual care group did not. Further research should explore predictive characteristics of responders and impacts of maintenance doses.
JOURNAL OF NEUROLOGY NEUROSURGERY AND PSYCHIATRY
(2022)
Article
Geriatrics & Gerontology
Ting-Yu Chou, Jia-Chi Wang, Mu-Yun Lin, Po-Yi Tsai
Summary: This study found that ipsilesional intermittent theta burst stimulation (iTBS) can significantly improve language recovery in patients with chronic non-fluent aphasia after stroke. Compared with the 1-Hz rTMS protocol, iTBS showed more pronounced improvements in auditory comprehension.
FRONTIERS IN AGING NEUROSCIENCE
(2022)
Review
Clinical Neurology
Sigfus Kristinsson, Dirk B. den Ouden, Chris Rorden, Roger Newman-Norlund, Jean Neils-Strunjas, Julius Fridriksson
Summary: This narrative review discusses the current state of literature on commonly studied predictors of therapy response in aphasia. It focuses on biographical, neuropsychological, and neurobiological predictors, highlights the limitations of the literature, summarizes consistent findings, and considers ways to better support the development of personalized aphasia therapy.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Molly Jacobs, Charles Ellis
Summary: This study assessed the cost, cost-effectiveness, and perceived value associated with improved functional communication in individuals receiving telerehabilitation treatment for aphasia. Results showed significant correlations with age, education, and race, with average costs of improvement in NOMS comprehension and verbal expression per patient being $1,152 and $1,128 respectively. Moreover, the monetary equivalent in patient's improved quality of communication life far exceeded the financial cost of treatment.
Article
Rehabilitation
Mary Boyle, Jean K. Gordon, Stacy M. Harnish, Swathi Kiran, Nadine Martin, Miranda L. Rose, Christos Salis
Summary: The Rehabilitation Treatment Specification System (RTSS) is a framework for identifying specific components of treatments and understanding their mechanisms of action. This article applies the RTSS framework to the characterization of aphasia treatments based on cognitive-linguistic models, discussing the benefits of this classification system and additional criteria for evaluating such treatments.
ARCHIVES OF PHYSICAL MEDICINE AND REHABILITATION
(2022)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Wolfram Ziegler, Ingrid Aichert, Anja Staiger, Klaus Willmes, Annette Baumgaertner, Tanja Grewe, Agnes Floeel, Walter Huber, Roman Rocker, Catharina Korsukewitz, Caterina Breitenstein
Summary: Apraxia of speech is a motor speech disorder that often occurs with aphasia after lesions to the left cerebral hemisphere. This study examined the frequency of apraxia of speech in a sample of 156 patients with chronic post-stroke aphasia. The prevalence rate was estimated to be 0.44, with a lower rate of 0.35 for moderate and severe cases and a further decrease to 0.22 for only severe impairment. Clinical criteria and rating scales were found to predict the presence of apraxia of speech. Previous prevalence estimates may have been biased by a low sensitivity of assessment instruments for mild speech impairment.
Article
Audiology & Speech-Language Pathology
Callie Ann Marsalisi, Shannon Hughes, Jennifer Mozeiko
Summary: Hildred Schuell's stimulation approach is a treatment method for individuals with aphasia that aims to promote adaptive neuroplasticity through intensive stimulation. This approach, which emphasizes intensity and salience, may be a feasible treatment option for motivated individuals with chronic severe aphasia who have plateaued following other therapies.
Article
Rehabilitation
Maria Varkanitsa, Claudia Penaloza, Andreas Charidimou, Swathi Kiran
Summary: This study aimed to investigate whether MRI-detected cerebral small vessel disease (cSVD) burden predicts aphasia recovery in chronic stroke patients. The results showed that cSVD burden can independently predict treatment response for anomia therapy. Furthermore, cSVD burden is strongly associated with pre-treatment nonverbal executive function, but not with language performance.
ARCHIVES OF PHYSICAL MEDICINE AND REHABILITATION
(2023)
Article
Audiology & Speech-Language Pathology
M. Emrah Cangi, Dilek Eroglu Uzun, Irem Nur Gurel
Summary: The study aimed to investigate the differences in depression and psychological resilience levels among individuals with aphasia, as well as the impact of psychological resilience on depression between fluent and non-fluent aphasia types. The results showed no significant differences in depression and resilience between the two groups. There was a negative correlation between overall depression scores and behavioral disturbances for all participants. Additionally, resilience had an effect on depression scores for both fluent and non-fluent aphasic participants.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Sarah Marchina, Andrea Norton, Gottfried Schlaug
Summary: Melodic intonation therapy (MIT) has been found to be an effective alternative to traditional speech therapy for patients with large left-hemisphere lesions and post-stroke aphasia. Intensive training of intonation-supported auditory-motor coupling and engaging feedforward/feedback control regions in the unaffected hemisphere improves speech-motor functions in these patients.
ANNALS OF THE NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Linguistics
Michelle L. Gravier, William D. Hula, Jeffrey P. Johnson, Alyssa Autenreith, Michael Walsh Dickey
Summary: This study evaluated whether cortisol levels could predict response to intensive speech-language intervention in individuals with chronic aphasia. The results showed that cortisol levels did not significantly predict treatment response, although a positive trend was present. Baseline cortisol levels were normal, did not change following intervention, and were not significantly correlated with behavioral outcome measures.
TOPICS IN LANGUAGE DISORDERS
(2022)