Imaging short- and long-term training success in chronic aphasia

Abstract

Background: To date, functional imaging studies of treatment-induced recovery from chronic aphasia only assessed short-term treatment effects after intensive language training. In the present study, we show with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), that different brain regions may be involved in immediate versus long-term success of intensive language training in chronic post-stroke aphasia patients.

Integrity of the hippocampus and surrounding white matter is correlated with language training success in aphasia

“…Here, increased gray matter density in the hippocampus after the training was correlated with the degree of motor improvement. Thus, convergent evidence from healthy subjects (Breitenstein et al, 2005;Maguire and Frith, 2004;Opitz and Friederici, 2003) and stroke sufferers (Menke et al, 2009;Gauthier et al, 2008;Goldenberg and Spatt, 1994) points to the critical involvement of the hippocampus to the success of intensive training regimen in stroke patients.…”

“…A more recent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study (Menke et al, 2009) assessed neural correlates of naming performance in chronic aphasia patients prior to and after 2 weeks of intensive language therapy. Training success was highly correlated with increased activity in areas mediating verbal memory and attention, particularly the left hippocampus.…”

Neuroscience of Aphasia Recovery: the Concept of Neural Multifunctionality

“…We then cite evidence attesting to changes in non-core language networks, such as the default mode attention network [17] and the hippocampus [18], in response to aphasia therapy, as further evidence supporting a neural multifunctional view of recovery from aphasia. In this context, we note how these findings line up with new conceptualizations of the adaptive role of extrasylvian neural networks in recovery from aphasia [19••].…”

Behavioural and neural changes after a “choice” therapy for naming deficits in aphasia: preliminary findings

“…Although our use of a treatment approach targeted to a specific impairment allowed us to attempt to isolate the underlying cognitive operations involved in the treatment task (not often seen in larger, group studies), future work will include larger numbers of patients and an overt naming task. Many other aspects related to brain plasticity associated with our aphasia treatment remain to be further examined, such as the areas of activation associated with correct versus incorrect responses (e.g., Fridriksson, Bonilha, Baker, Moser & Rorden, 2010;Postman-Caucheteteux et al, 2010), treatment maintenance (Menke, et al, 2009;Vitali, et al, 2010) and treatment dosage (Meinzer & Breitenstein, 2008).…”