Can enhancing left lateralization using transcranial direct current stimulation improve recovery from post-stroke aphasia?

One third of stroke victims suffer from aphasia, an acquired language disorder for which there are few effective medical treatments. Aphasia often does not resolve completely, resulting in substantial long-term disability. After a stroke that causes aphasia, the reorganization of language networks in the brain involves compensatory recruitment of brain tissue in the left hemisphere as well as potentially maladaptive recruitment of symmetric areas in the right hemisphere. One avenue for intervention might be to externally “left lateralize” the brain, enhancing activity of the left frontal lobe while inhibiting the right. This can be achieved through transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and we hypothesize that left-lateralizing tDCS can improve recovery from post-stroke aphasia. We have undertaken a randomized double-blinded sham-controlled Phase II trial of left-lateralizing tDCS (Clinical Trials ID #NCT01709383). Subjects receive either real or sham tDCS for five consecutive days during standardized speech therapy. Behavioral outcome measures are obtained prior to treatment and at three time points afterwards. Multimodal imaging measures of brain function, structure, and connectivity are also obtained at each time point. To date, 30 subjects have been recruited and screened. Of these, 13 subjects have completed their participation, 4 are in the follow-up period, and 4 are awaiting treatment. Two subjects withdrew from the study due to scheduling conflicts or unr...
Source: BRAIN STIMULATION: Basic, Translational, and Clinical Research in Neuromodulation - Category: Neurology Authors: Tags: Abstracts Presented at NYC Neuromodulation 2013 Source Type: research