Understanding, facilitating and predicting aphasia recovery after rehabilitation

Purpose: This paper reviews several studies whose aim was to understand the nature of language recovery in chronic aphasia and identify predictors of how people may recover their language functions after a brain injury. Method: Several studies that mostly draw from data collected within the Centre for Neurobiology of Language Recovery were reviewed and categorised in four aspects of language impairment and recovery in aphasia: (a) neural markers for language impairment and recovery, (b) language and cognitive markers for language impairment and recovery, (c) effective treatments and (d) predictive modelling of treatment-induced rehabilitation. Result: Language impairment and recovery in stroke-induced aphasia is multi-factorial, including patient-specific and treatment-specific factors. A combination of these factors may help us predict treatment responsiveness even before treatment begins. Conclusion: Continued work on this topic will lead to a better understanding of the mechanisms that underly language impairment and treatment-induced recovery in aphasia, and, consequently, use this information to predict each person's recovery profile trajectory and provide optimal prescriptions regarding the type and dosage of treatment.

Automated summary

This paper reviewed several studies that aimed to understand language recovery in chronic aphasia and identify predictors of recovery after brain injury. The results showed that language impairment and recovery in stroke-induced aphasia are multifactorial, influenced by patient-specific and treatment-specific factors. Combining these factors can help predict treatment responsiveness.