Early Recovery of Aphasia through Thrombolysis: The Significance of Spontaneous Speech.
J Stroke Cerebrovasc Dis
; 27(7): 1937-1948, 2018 Jul.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-29576398
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Aphasia is one of the most devastating stroke-related consequences for social interaction and daily activities. Aphasia recovery in acute stroke depends on the degree of reperfusion after thrombolysis or thrombectomy. As aphasia assessment tests are often time-consuming for patients with acute stroke, physicians have been developing rapid and simple tests. The aim of our study is to evaluate the improvement of language functions in the earliest stage in patients treated with thrombolysis and in nontreated patients using our rapid screening test. MATERIALS ANDMETHODS:
Our study is a single-center prospective observational study conducted at the Stroke Unit of the University Medical Hospital of Trieste (January-December 2016). Patients treated with thrombolysis and nontreated patients underwent 3 aphasia assessments through our rapid screening test (at baseline, 24 hours, and 72 hours). The screening test assesses spontaneous speech, oral comprehension of words, reading aloud and comprehension of written words, oral comprehension of sentences, naming, repetition of words and a sentence, and writing words.RESULTS:
The study included 40 patients 18 patients treated with thrombolysis and 22 nontreated patients. Both groups improved over time. Among all language parameters, spontaneous speech was statistically significant between 24 and 72 hours (P value = .012), and between baseline and 72 hours (P value = .017).CONCLUSIONS:
Our study demonstrates that patients treated with thrombolysis experience greater improvement in language than the nontreated patients. The difference between the 2 groups is increasingly evident over time. Moreover, spontaneous speech is the parameter marked by the greatest improvement.Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Aphasia
/
Thrombolytic Therapy
/
Recovery of Function
Type of study:
Etiology_studies
/
Observational_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limits:
Aged
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
Language:
En
Journal:
J Stroke Cerebrovasc Dis
Journal subject:
ANGIOLOGIA
/
CEREBRO
Year:
2018
Type:
Article