BACKGROUND: Very early aphasia rehabilitation studies have shown mixed results. Differences in therapy intensity and therapy type contribute significantly to the equivocal results. AIMS: To compare a standardized, prescribed very early aphasia therapy regimen with a historical usual care control group at therapy completion (4-5 weeks post-stroke) and again at follow-up (6 months). METHODS & PROCEDURES: This study compared two cohorts from successive studies conducted in four Australian acute/sub-acute hospitals. The studies had near identical recruitment, blinded assessment and data-collection protocols. The Very Early Rehabilitation (VER) cohort (N = 20) had mild-severe aphasia and received up to 20 1-h sessions of impairment-based aphasia therapy, up to 5 weeks. The control cohort (n = 27) also had mild-severe aphasia and received usual care (UC) therapy for up to 4 weeks post-stroke. The primary outcome measure was the Aphasia Quotient (AQ) and a measure of communicative efficiency (DA) at therapy completion. Outcomes were measured at baseline, therapy completion and 6 months post-stroke and were compared using Generalised Estimating Equations (GEE) models. OUTCOMES & RESULTS: After controlling for initial aphasia and stroke disability, the GEE models demonstrated that at the primary end-point participants receiving VER achieved 18% greater recovery on the AQ and 1.5% higher DA scores than those in the control cohort. At 6 months, the VER participants maintained a 16% advantage in recovery on the AQ and 0.6% more on DA scores over the control cohort participants. CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS: A prescribed, impairment-based aphasia therapy regimen, provided daily in very early post-stroke recovery, resulted in significantly greater communication gains in people with mild-severe aphasia at completion of therapy and at 6 months, when compared with a historical control cohort. Further research is required to demonstrate large-scale and long-term efficacy.
BACKGROUND: Very early aphasia rehabilitation studies have shown mixed results. Differences in therapy intensity and therapy type contribute significantly to the equivocal results. AIMS: To compare a standardized, prescribed very early aphasia therapy regimen with a historical usual care control group at therapy completion (4-5 weeks post-stroke) and again at follow-up (6 months). METHODS & PROCEDURES: This study compared two cohorts from successive studies conducted in four Australian acute/sub-acute hospitals. The studies had near identical recruitment, blinded assessment and data-collection protocols. The Very Early Rehabilitation (VER) cohort (N = 20) had mild-severe aphasia and received up to 20 1-h sessions of impairment-based aphasia therapy, up to 5 weeks. The control cohort (n = 27) also had mild-severe aphasia and received usual care (UC) therapy for up to 4 weeks post-stroke. The primary outcome measure was the Aphasia Quotient (AQ) and a measure of communicative efficiency (DA) at therapy completion. Outcomes were measured at baseline, therapy completion and 6 months post-stroke and were compared using Generalised Estimating Equations (GEE) models. OUTCOMES & RESULTS: After controlling for initial aphasia and stroke disability, the GEE models demonstrated that at the primary end-point participants receiving VER achieved 18% greater recovery on the AQ and 1.5% higher DA scores than those in the control cohort. At 6 months, the VER participants maintained a 16% advantage in recovery on the AQ and 0.6% more on DA scores over the control cohort participants. CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS: A prescribed, impairment-based aphasia therapy regimen, provided daily in very early post-stroke recovery, resulted in significantly greater communication gains in people with mild-severe aphasia at completion of therapy and at 6 months, when compared with a historical control cohort. Further research is required to demonstrate large-scale and long-term efficacy.
Authors: Björn Reuter; Christoph Gumbinger; Tamara Sauer; Horst Wiethölter; Ingo Bruder; Curt Diehm; Peter A Ringleb; Werner Hacke; Michael G Hennerici; Rolf Kern Journal: BMC Neurol Date: 2016-11-16 Impact factor: 2.474
Authors: Karen H Mallet; Rany M Shamloul; Dale Corbett; Hillel M Finestone; Simon Hatcher; Jim Lumsden; Franco Momoli; Michel C F Shamy; Grant Stotts; Richard H Swartz; Christine Yang; Dar Dowlatshahi Journal: PLoS One Date: 2016-12-21 Impact factor: 3.240
Authors: Harsimarpreet Kaur; Ashima Nehra; Sakshi Chopra; Hemchandra Sati; Rohit Bhatia; Senthil S Kumaran; R M Pandey; M V Padma Srivastava Journal: Ann Indian Acad Neurol Date: 2020-09-25 Impact factor: 1.383
Authors: Sophie Lehnerer; Benjamin Hotter; Inken Padberg; Petra Knispel; Dike Remstedt; Andrea Liebenau; Ulrike Grittner; Ian Wellwood; Andreas Meisel Journal: BMC Neurol Date: 2019-09-06 Impact factor: 2.474