Review

Treatment and Prognosis of Aphasia after Stroke

Samwel Sylvester Msigwa^*,✉, Yan Li^*, Xianglin Cheng^*

^{Department of Neurology, The Clinical Medicine School of Yangtze University, The First Affiliated Hospital of Yangtze University, Jingzhou, Hubei, 434023, China.}

*, These authors contributed equally.
✉ Correspondence
Samwel Sylvester Msigwa, Department of Neurology, The Clinical Medicine School of Yangtze University, The First Affiliated Hospital of Yangtze University, Jingzhou, Hubei, 434023, China. Email:[email protected]. Telephone number: +86 13135752757.
Received: November 6, 2019; Accepted: January 19, 2020; Published online: May 28, 2020.
Cite this paper: Msigwa, S. S., Li, Y. and Cheng, X. L. (2020) Treatment and Prognosis of Aphasia after Stoke. Global Journal of Neuroscience, 1(1):17-26. https://naturescholars.com/gjn.010104. https://doi.org/10.46633/gjn.010104.
Copyright © 2020 by Scholars Publishing, LLC.

Abstract

Stroke is the second prominent cause of death in the world and the first in China with 1/3 of the survivors presenting with post-stroke aphasia (PSA). Herein PSA has been reviewed concerning novel studies in the frame of reference to epidemiological facts, advances in treatment and prognostic factors. Speech and language therapy (SLT) are the backbone of the management of aphasia. Likewise, in the acute context, reperfusion therapy has recently emerged as an influential option for better progression. In combination with SLT, pharmacotherapy specifically Donepezil and Memantine appear to work better though further research is warranted on its effectiveness on global language function. Testimonial of the usefulness of non-invasive brain stimulation techniques for PSA is preliminary but assuring and transcranial direct current stimulation trials are encouraging. A rarely discussed treatment option, acupuncture has been evidenced to result in impressing outcomes for motor PSA, functional communication, and linguistic abilities. Moreover, SPEAK-6 and aNIHSS tools have been recently developed and proved to predict prognosis at 6 months and 24 hours, respectively. Studies revealed several prognostic factors for PSA including the age at onset, location of the lesion, infarct size, baseline language ability, education level of the patient, white matter preservation and mechanism of neuroplasticity. Therefore further researches for treatment and prognosis of PSA are indicated with a large number of participants, including varieties of aphasia types, explaining the pathophysiology of these recoveries of the novel approaches and details on the optimal daily dosage, intensity, and duration of these therapies.

Key words: Aphasia, Stroke, Memantine, Donepezil, Prognosis, Linguistics.