Bilateral dolichoarteriopathy of internal carotid arteries as cause of bilateral ischemic strokes: Case report.

Most anatomic features of the internal carotid artery (ICA) are described as a straight course to the skull base free of branches. In some cases, the excessive elongation of the internal carotid artery in a confined space results in a curvature showing a "C" or "S" shape, or in an abnormal vascular shape made of a single or double vessel loop. These anatomic variants are called dolichoarteriopathies of the internal carotid artery. The correlation between dolichoarteriopathy of the ICA and stroke is still questionable, however it is believed that it can be associated with cerebral ischemia with a clinical symptomatology that accompanies ischemic stroke. We report a case of a 41-year-old patient, with a history of hypertension, who was admitted for right hemiparesis with Broca's aphasia. The rest of the clinical examination was normal. Radiological investigations confirmed an acute left sylvian ischemic stroke with an abrupt occlusion of the posterior trunk of the left M2 segment on the CT angiogram, an excessive elongation of the ICA on both sides, describing a shape of coils or loops. Etiologic workup for ischemic stroke was negative.

Effectiveness of a Verbal Expressive Skills Management Program for Pakistani Patients with Broca Aphasia: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Background: It is estimated that 25% of the patients in Pakistan experience stroke resulting in problems with language. Among many of the conditions, problem with verbal expressive production (Broca's Aphasia) is one of the main problem faced by people having stoke. Many traditional therapies are incorporated to treat symptoms of Aphasia including fluent and non- fluent Aphasia. Objectives: The primary objective of the current study was to determine the effectiveness of Verbal Expressive Skill Management Program in Urdu (VESMP-U) with convention speech therapy, Melodic Intonation therapy (MIT) in enhancing the verbal expressive skills in patients with severe Broca's Aphasia. Another objective of this study was to compare the efficacy of Verbal Expressive Skill Management Program in Urdu (VESMP-U) with traditional therapy, as well as the quality of life of patients with severe Broca's Aphasia. Methods: A randomized control trial (NCT03699605, clinicaltrials.gov) was conducted from November 2018 - June 2019 in Pakistan railway Hospital (PRH). Patients having a three-month history of severe Broca's Aphasia, aged between 40-60 years, bilingual (Urdu and English language) and having the ability to use a smart phone were included in the study. Patients with cognitive impairments were excluded. Total of 77 patients were evaluated for eligibility criteria according to the G Power software for sample size. Out of 77, 54 individuals fulfilled the inclusion criteria. The participants were divided into 2 groups (27 each) through sealed envelope method. Patients of both groups were assessed pre and post intervention using the Boston Diagnostic Aphasia Examination (BADE) battery (Primary outcome measure). Experimental group n = 25 received VESMP-U therapy and control group n = 25 (2 drop out in each group) received MIT for 16 weeks i.e. 4 days per week having 64 sessions altogether. Each intervention session lasted up to 30-45 minutes for both groups. Results: Within and between group analysis after intervention showed that the VESMP-U group had significantly improved BDAE scores (P = .001; 95% CI) than the MIT group for all variables (articulatory intelligibility, phrase length, grammatical form, prosody/intonation, spontaneous speech, word finding, repetition, and auditory comprehension). The BDAE scores of participants in experimental group having VESMP-U therapy pre- and post-intervention were statistically significant (P = .001; 95% CI), which indicates that participant's communication skills were enhanced by use of VESMP-U. Conclusion: Android based application VESMP-U has been found to be effective in improving expression and quality of life of patients with severe Broca's aphasia.

Quality of Communication Life (QoCL) In Persons with Expressive Aphasia With And Without Communication Intervention - A Comparative Study.

Background: Communication difficulties in aphasia can result in social isolation, challenges with interpersonal relationships, emotional changes, inability to return to work, and lack of independence. Therefore, intervention is essential particularly in the context of functional communication for persons with aphasia (PwAs). Studies have also indicated that quality of communication life (QoCL) is a valid measure of the impact of communication difficulty on quality of life. Objective: To estimate the relationship between communication intervention and QoCL in individuals with expressive aphasia. Methods and Material: Twenty PwAs were divided into two groups: group I individuals had undergone at least 3 months of speech and language intervention whereas group II individuals did not have any formal communication intervention. Tamil version of the QoCL scale was administered for all participants. Statistical analysis was carried out using Mann-Whitney U test and Spearman's rho correlation coefficient. Results: Individuals with speech and language intervention in group I had higher scores in overall QoCL domains as well as in overall QoL when compared to group II. The results of correlation analysis indicated that individuals with greater therapy duration had significantly high scores. Conclusions: The results prove that communication intervention is necessary for PwAs to improve QoCL and can be used to raise awareness of its importance. The findings can also guide treatment planning, counseling the PwA, and caregivers. It also indicates the importance of using patient-related outcome measures during the intervention process.

The efficacy and safety of acupuncture combined with language training for motor aphasia after stroke: study protocol for a multicenter randomized sham-controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Motor aphasia after stroke is a common and intractable complication of stroke. Acupuncture and language training may be an alternative and effective approach. However, the efficacy of acupuncture and language training for motor aphasia after stroke has not been confirmed. The main objectives of this trial are to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture and low-intensity, low-dose language training in treating ischemic motor aphasia after stroke from 15 to 90 days. METHODS: This is a multicenter randomized sham-controlled clinical trial. We will allocate 252 subjects aged between 45 and 75 years diagnosed with motor aphasia after stroke with an onset time ranging from 15 to 90 days into two groups randomly in a 1:1 ratio. Patients in the experimental group will be treated with "Xing-Nao Kai-Qiao" acupuncture therapy plus language training, and those in the control group will be treated with sham-acupoint (1 cun next to the acupoints) acupuncture therapy plus language training. All the patients will be given acupuncture and language training for 6 weeks, with a follow-up evaluation 6 weeks after the end of the treatment and 6 months after the onset time. The patients will mainly be evaluated using the Western Aphasia Battery and Chinese Functional Communication Profile, and the incidence of treatment-related adverse events at the 2nd, 4th, and 6th weeks of treatment will be recorded. The baseline characteristics of the patients will be summarized by group, the chi-squared test will be used to compare categorical variables, and repeated measures of analysis of variance or a linear mixed model will be applied to analyze the changes measured at different time points. DISCUSSION: The present study is designed to investigate the effectiveness and safety of traditional acupuncture therapy and language training in ischemic motor aphasia after stroke and explore the correlation between the treatment time and clinical effect of acupuncture. We hope our results will help doctors understand and utilize acupuncture combined with language training. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ChiCTR ChiCTR1900026740 . Registered on 20 October 2019.

The Efficacy of Structural Priming in the Production of Sentences with Prepositions in Persian Patients with Poststroke Aphasia.

INTRODUCTION: Problems with the production of sentences with prepositions are one of the most common language problems in people with aphasia (PWA). Structural priming (SP) is one of the theory-based therapeutic approaches to improve these deficits. Although several studies have been conducted on the sentence construction problems of PWA, there is no study on the SP protocol for the production of sentences with Persian prepositions. This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of SP in the production of these sentences among Persian-speaking PWA. METHODS: This study, with a single-subject ABA design, evaluated the efficacy of SP in the production of trained and untrained sentences containing Persian prepositions in four aphasic individuals with agrammatism and investigated the maintenance effects at 4 weeks post-training. RESULTS: Two subjects (A.G. and M.S.) showed notable changes in the production of trained sentences with Persian prepositions (50% to 91.67% for A.G. and 0% to 66.67% for M.S.). This significant improvement was generalized to sentences with untrained prepositions (50% to 91.67% for A.G. and 0% to 83.33% for M.S.). The treatment effects were also maintained in the 4-week follow-up (d2 = 10.3 for A.G. and d2 = 19.06 for M.S.). However, the other two participants only showed a slight increase in these variables after treatment. CONCLUSION: The findings of the present study revealed that SP for sentences with prepositions could be useful to varying degrees for Persian-speaking PWA with agrammatism and lead to improved language skills in producing these sentences. Overall, individuals with better language skills and cognitive status in early assessments showed better treatment outcomes than others.

[Case Report: Broca's Aphasia in a Left-Handed Patient with a Right Brain Infarction and Early Stage Aphonia].

We report a case of Broca's aphasia in a left-handed patient with a right brain infarction. The patient's speech is consistent with a particular type of aphemia, that is, without vocalization except for a few phonemes or words. The patient presented with aphonia in an early stage. The lack of speech could be due to the impairment of the phonological-speech process or speech initialization. This type of aphemia has been reported to involve the right inferior precentral gyrus or right middle and inferior frontal gyri. Our patient had both lesions. The symptom and the lesion of this type of aphemia could differ from those of another type of aphemia corresponding to apraxia of speech, and the speech of Broca's aphasia could have multiple mechanisms. Our case shows Alexander's anomalous type with atypical lateralization and distribution of the lesion. Verbal intrahemispheric dissociation apraxia was suspected in our patient. The coexistence of aphasia, anosodiaphoria of hemiplegia is a dual symptom in which bilateral hemispheric functions exist in a unilateral hemisphere. (Received 1 December, 2021; Accepted 1 February, 2022; Published 1 April, 2022).

Functional Connectivity and Speech Entrainment Speech Entrainment Improves Connectivity Between Anterior and Posterior Cortical Speech Areas in Non-fluent Aphasia.

BACKGROUND: Speech entrainment (SE), the online mimicking of an audio-visual speech model, has been shown to increase speech fluency in individuals with non-fluent aphasia. One theory that may explain why SE improves speech output is that it synchronizes functional connectivity between anterior and posterior language regions to be more similar to that of neurotypical speakers. OBJECTIVES: The present study tested this by measuring functional connectivity between 2 regions shown to be necessary for speech production, and their right hemisphere homologues, in 24 persons with aphasia compared to 20 controls during both free (spontaneous) speech and SE. METHODS: Regional functional connectivity in participants with aphasia were normalized to the control data. Two analyses were then carried out: (1) normalized functional connectivity was compared between persons with aphasia and controls during free speech and SE and (2) stepwise linear models with leave-one-out cross-validation including normed functional connectivity during both tasks and proportion damage to the left hemisphere as independent variables were created for each language score. RESULTS: Left anterior-posterior functional connectivity and left posterior to right anterior functional connectivity were significantly more similar to connectivity of the control group during SE compared to free speech. Additionally, connectivity during free speech was more associated with language measures than connectivity during SE. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, these results suggest that SE promotes normalization of functional connectivity (i.e., return to patterns observed in neurotypical controls), which may explain why individuals with non-fluent aphasia produce more fluent speech during SE compared to spontaneous speech.

Language treatment effects on communicative abilities and working memory in Korean-speaking agrammatic Broca's aphasia caused by moyamoya disease: Phase II evidence from a case study.

The present study reports on the language treatment outcomes from sentence- and story-level linguistic facilitation and its generalization effect on communicative abilities, working memory, and sentence processing in the case of an adult with Moyamoya Disease (MMD). After treatment,the patient's overall performance, including the Aphasia Quotient, and sentence processing ability as measured by language testing, were improved. Furthermore, the treatment effects were generalizable to working memory abilities. Our case study conveys clinically meaningful implications since it is the first report on the effects of language treatment on linguistic and cognitive domains for an individual with MMD-induced agrammatic Broca's aphasia.

Bilateral thalamic lesion presenting as Broca's type subcortical aphasia in cerebral venous thrombosis: index case report.

A 35-year-old man with a history of multiple substances abuse (alcohol, tobacco and cannabis) presented with acute, severe, holocranial headache associated with nausea and few episodes of vomiting followed by acute onset Broca-type aphasia with intact comprehension from next day, without any other focal neurodeficits, seizure or altered sensorium. Neurological examination was marked by Broca-type aphasia and failure in convergence reaction bilaterally, rest unremarkable. Brain imaging revealed lesions in bilateral thalamus, while magnetic resonance venography showed multiple flow voids in posterior part of superior sagittal sinus and bilateral transverse sinus. A diagnosis of cerebral venous sinus thrombosis was made. Subsequent investigations revealed decreased levels of protein C, protein S and antithrombin III. The patient was started on anticoagulation to which his headache and aphasia recovered completely after 8 and 12 days of therapy, respectively. He is being continued on anticoagulation and is following-up with us for past 4 months uneventfully.

Cohesion in the discourse of people with post-stroke aphasia.

Aphasic discourse has been investigated through two major approaches: a micro-linguistic approach and a macro one, but the separate analysis of the micro and macro aspects of aphasic discourse has led to a noticeable gap between them. Cohesion analysis is one of the possible ways that can directly connect these two aspects. However, few studies have investigated cohesion in aphasic discourse in an integrated manner. The present study employs a mixed-methods approach to examine whether and how patients with fluent and non-fluent stroke-induced aphasia differ from normal individuals in the cohesion of their discourse, aiming to provide a more comprehensive understanding of this issue. We compared the use of cohesive devices in the discourse of 7 non-fluent aphasics (4 males, mean age = 70.9) and 9 fluent aphasics (4 males, mean age = 70.7) against 16 non-aphasic controls (NACs) (8 males, mean age = 71.0). Transcripts were analysed and conclusions were drawn based on the combination of quantitative and qualitative observations. As predicted, discourse by aphasic participants is less cohesive than that by non-aphasic participants and the three groups' discourse differs from each other in the distribution of cohesion categories, with non-fluent aphasics having more trouble in using grammatical cohesive devices while fluent aphasics more severely affected in constructing lexical cohesion. Results suggest that cohesion in post-stroke aphasic discourse may vary between different aphasia types and thus can be rather complicated. Additional work involving more aphasia types and more dimensions of discourse cohesion is needed to provide further insight into this question.

[The language of children and young people with 22q11 deletion syndrome]. / Lenguaje de niños y jóvenes con síndrome de deleción 22q11.

INTRODUCTION: The 22q11 deletion syndrome (S22q11) is one of the most prevalent genetic disorders, resulting in multiple systemic and neuropsychological features. AIM: To describe the language profile in a sample of Spanish subjects with S22q11. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A sample of 30 Spanish participants with S22q11 aged between 5 years and 21 years and 11 months (mean: 12.14 ± 4.20 years) was evaluated using standardized tests and a questionnaire administered to parents. RESULTS: Almost half of the subjects obtained better results in expressive language than in comprehensive language and the majority obtained a higher score in language content than in language memory. The results suggest that people with S22q11 present language difficulties that improve with age to a certain level and subsequently stabilize. A specific profile is observed that suggests that pragmatic difficulties are a consequence of this language profile and not only of social difficulties already described in this pathology. CONCLUSIONS: In the sample of the present study, children and young people with S22q11 present specific language and pragmatic disorders. More than half of the study participants did not obtain significant differences between the level of expressive and receptive language. Most presented semantic fluency difficulties. The type and degree of impairment in pragmatic skills suggest that the basic problem may be related to their language difficulties.

TITLE: Lenguaje de niños y jóvenes con síndrome de deleción 22q11.Introducción. El síndrome de deleción 22q11 (S22q11) es uno de los trastornos genéticos más prevalentes, y presenta múltiples alteraciones sistémicas y neuropsicológicas. Objetivo. Describir el perfil de lenguaje y pragmática asociado a este síndrome. Pacientes y métodos. Se evaluó una muestra de 30 participantes españoles con S22q11 de edades comprendidas entre 5 años, y 21 años y 11 meses (media: 12,14 ± 4,2 años) mediante pruebas estandarizadas y un cuestionario administrado a los padres. Resultados. Casi la mitad de la muestra obtuvo mejores resultados en el lenguaje expresivo que en el comprensivo, y la mayoría logró una mayor puntuación en el contenido del lenguaje que en la memoria del lenguaje. Los resultados sugieren que las personas con S22q11 presentan dificultades de lenguaje que mejoran con la edad hasta cierto nivel y, posteriormente, se estabilizan. Se observa un perfil específico que sugiere que las dificultades pragmáticas son consecuencia de este perfil de lenguaje y no sólo de dificultades sociales ya descritas en esta patología. Conclusiones. En la muestra del presente estudio, los niños y jóvenes con S22q11 presentan alteraciones específicas del lenguaje y la pragmática. Más de la mitad de los participantes del estudio no obtuvieron diferencias significativas entre el nivel de lenguaje expresivo y el receptivo. La mayoría presentó dificultades de fluencia semántica. El tipo y el grado de las alteraciones que presentan en las habilidades pragmáticas sugieren que el problema básico podría estar relacionado con sus dificultades lingüísticas.

Further Study of the Effects of Treatment Intensity on Outcomes of Sound Production Treatment for Acquired Apraxia of Speech: Does Dose Frequency Matter?

Purpose The aim of this study was to examine the effects of dose frequency, an aspect of treatment intensity, on articulation outcomes of sound production treatment (SPT). Method Twelve speakers with apraxia of speech and aphasia received SPT administered with an intense dose frequency and a nonintense/traditional dose frequency (SPT-T). Each participant received both treatment intensities in the context of multiple baseline designs across behaviors. SPT-Intense was provided for 3 hourly sessions per day/3 days per week; and SPT-T for 1 hour-long session per day/3 days per week. Twenty-seven treatment sessions were completed with each phase of treatment. Articulation accuracy was measured in probes of production of treated and untreated words. Results All participants achieved improved articulation of treated words with both intensities; there were no notable differences in magnitude of improvement associated with dose frequency. Positive response generalization to untrained words was found in 21 of 24 treatment applications; the cases of negligible response generalization occurred with SPT-T words. Conclusions Dose frequency (and corresponding total intervention duration) did not appear to impact treatment response for treated items. Disparate response generalization findings for 3 participants in the current study may relate to participant characteristics such as apraxia of speech severity and/or stimuli factors.

An Exploration of the Impact of Group Treatment for Aphasia on Connected Speech.

OBJECTIVE: Group treatment enables people with aphasia to practise communication skills outside the typical clinician-patient dyad. While there is evidence that this treatment format can improve participation in everyday communication, there is little evidence it impacts linguistic abilities. This project aimed to investigate the effects of 'typical' group treatment on the communication skills of people with aphasia with a focus on word retrieval in discourse. METHODS: Three people with aphasia took part in a 6-week group therapy programme. Each week focused on a different topic, and three topics also received a home programme targeting word retrieval. The six treated topics were compared with two control topics, with regard to language production in connected speech. Semistructured interviews were collected twice prior to treatment and twice following the treatment and analysed using (a) word counts; (b) the profile of word errors and retrieval in speech; (c) a measure of propositional idea density, and (d) perceptual discourse ratings. RESULTS: Two participants showed no significant improvements; one participant showed significant improvement on discourse ratings. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides limited support for group treatment, leading to improved communication as measured by semistructured interviews, even when supplemented with a home programme. We suggest that either group treatment, as implemented here, was not an effective approach for improving communication for our participants and/or that outcome measurement was limited by difficulty assessing changes in connected speech.

Confusion vs Broca Aphasia: A Case Report.

INTRODUCTION: Broca aphasia presents with impaired expression of spoken and/or written language and is often caused by infarction in the Broca area in the frontal lobe. We present a case of Broca aphasia that was initially interpreted as confusion. CASE PRESENTATION: A 76-year-old woman was brought to the Emergency Department because of confusion and slurred speech that began in the morning. The patient had an extensive history of alcohol abuse, hyperlipidemia, and hypertension and had recently quit drinking 5 days earlier. The patient appeared confused, answering questions with "I don't know," but had no signs of agitation. Magnetic resonance imaging of the brain confirmed a recent infarct involving the left frontal and occipital lobes, coinciding with the Broca area. The patient was able to communicate via writing and eventually made an uneventful recovery of speech. DISCUSSION: This case demonstrates a patient without the display of stereotypical signs of stroke, yet that was the underlying condition leading to her aphasia. It is important for clinicians to be aware that a stroke can present with isolated findings such as language deficit or confusion.

Book talk and aphasia: the power of a book.

BACKGROUND: Reading is most often affected in aphasia and this has an impact on most aspects of everyday life. Being able to read makes a significant difference to how well a person can participate in society. In this study, people with aphasia recount their experiences of being in a book club. AIMS: This small scale, exploratory study employs a qualitative approach to investigate how persons with aphasia (PWA) and a librarian experience participating in a book club. The aim was to explore their overall experiences of participation, including their views regarding the design of the book club. The research questions were: How did participants experience participating in a book club? How did participants experience the structure and the content of the book club? METHODS & PROCEDURES: Three men and one woman with aphasia took part in a book club, which was led by a librarian and met once a week for 9 weeks. The group read a book that had been adapted to suit adults who are not very skilled readers or who have a poor knowledge of the Swedish language; it was also available in an audio version. Data were collected through observations, interviews and field notes, and were analysed thematically to find patterns across data and across participants. OUTCOMES & RESULTS: The analysis showed that, despite their language difficulties, the participants experienced the book club as highly rewarding, possibly because the focus was on the content of the book and not on each individual's reading ability. The overarching theme identified in the data was 'Empowerment through a joint reading experience'. This encompassed three sub-themes: 'Structure and flexibility', 'Enjoyment of reading' and 'Fruitful discussions'. CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS: The PWA experienced the activity as positive and encouraging despite their language difficulties. What yielded the positive experience were the joint literary discussions. The project also showed that a dedicated group leader (here the librarian) and a flexible structure based on the situation and abilities of each individual were crucial for the encouraging findings.

Effect of Low-Frequency rTMS and Intensive Speech Therapy Treatment on Patients With Nonfluent Aphasia After Stroke.

BACKGROUND: To observe the effect of low-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) on patients with nonfluent aphasia after stroke. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty patients were divided into control, rTMS, and 2 times a day low-frequency rTMS (2rTMS) groups, and all 3 groups had intensive speech therapy (ST). Patients were assessed by western aphasia battery (WAB) scale. The spontaneous language, listening comprehension, retelling, and naming were scored, respectively. The expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in peripheral blood was detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. RESULTS: There was significant difference in aphasia quotient after treatment in the 3 groups. The values of the 4 dimensions in the WAB score of the rTMS group were higher than those in the control group. The WAB scores in the 2rTMS group were higher than those in the rTMS group. After 2 weeks treatment, the BDNF levels in the rTMS group and the 2rTMS group were significantly higher than those in the control group. Four weeks later, the 2rTMS group was significantly increased compared with the control group and the rTMS group. CONCLUSIONS: Low-frequency rTMS combined with conventional ST treatment can effectively improve the language function of patients with nonfluent aphasia after stroke. Two times a day low-frequency rTMS therapy combined with conventional ST treatment can improve the language function of patients with nonfluent aphasia after stroke more effectively and it also promote the expression of BDNF more effectively, thereby improving nerve repair and protecting brain tissue.

Neural structures supporting spontaneous and assisted (entrained) speech fluency.

Non-fluent speech is one of the most common impairments in post-stroke aphasia. The rehabilitation of non-fluent speech in aphasia is particularly challenging as patients are rarely able to produce and practice fluent speech production. Speech entrainment is a behavioural technique that enables patients with non-fluent aphasia to speak fluently. However, its mechanisms are not well understood and the level of improved fluency with speech entrainment varies among individuals with non-fluent aphasia. In this study, we evaluated the behavioural and neuroanatomical factors associated with better speech fluency with the aid of speech entrainment during the training phase of speech entrainment. We used a lesion-symptom mapping approach to define the relationship between chronic stroke location on MRI and the number of different words per second produced during speech entrainment versus picture description spontaneous speech. The behavioural variable of interest was the speech entrainment/picture description ratio, which, if ≥1, indicated an increase in speech output during speech entrainment compared to picture description. We used machine learning (shallow neural network) to assess the statistical significance and out-of-sample predictive accuracy of the neuroanatomical model, and its regional contributors. We observed that better assisted speech (higher speech entrainment/picture description ratio) was achieved by individuals who had preservation of the posterior middle temporal gyrus, inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus and uncinate fasciculus, while exhibiting lesions in areas typically associated with non-fluent aphasia, such as the superior longitudinal fasciculus, precentral, inferior frontal, supramarginal and insular cortices. Our findings suggest that individuals with dorsal stream damage but preservation of ventral stream structures are more likely to achieve more fluent speech with the aid of speech entrainment compared to spontaneous speech. This observation provides insight into the mechanisms of non-fluent speech in aphasia and has potential implications for future research using speech entrainment for rehabilitation of non-fluent aphasia.