Article

There is a growing need for various effective adjunctive treatment options for
speech recovery after stroke.
A pharmacological agent combined with noninvasive
brain stimulation has not been previously reported for poststroke aphasia
recovery. In this "proof of concept" study, we aimed to test the safety of a
combined intervention consisting of dextroamphetamine, transcranial direct
current stimulation, and speech and language therapy in subjects with nonfluent
aphasia. Ten subjects with chronic nonfluent aphasia underwent two experiments
where they received dextroamphetamine or placebo along with transcranial direct
current stimulation and speech and language therapy on two separate days. The
Western Aphasia Battery-Revised was used to monitor changes in speech
performance. No serious adverse events were observed. There was no significant
increase in blood pressure with amphetamine or deterioration in speech and
language performance. Western Aphasia Battery-Revised aphasia quotient and
language quotient showed a statistically significant increase in the active
experiment. Comparison of proportional changes of aphasia quotient and language
quotient in active experiment with those in placebo experiment showed significant
difference. We showed that the triple combination therapy is safe and implementable and seems to induce positive changes in speech and language
performance in the patients with chronic nonfluent aphasia due to stroke.

Langue : ANGLAIS