Undetected language deficits in left or right hemisphere post-stroke patients

Previous studies have reported that widely used tests for aphasia identification are unable to detect the subtle language deficits of left hemisphere brain damaged (LHBD) individuals. Similarly, the language disorders of individuals with right hemisphere brain damage (RHBD) usually remain undetected, due to the lack of any specialized test for the evaluation of their language processing skills. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the language deficits of 80 individuals suffering from the effects of either a LHBD or RHBD stroke, who were diagnosed as having no aphasia or language deficits based on the application of Boston Diagnostic Aphasia Examination. Their language abilities were examined with the use of the Adults' Language Abilities Test, which explores morpho-syntactic and semantic phenomena of the Greek language in both the comprehension and production modalities. Results revealed that both groups of stroke survivors performed significantly worse compared to the group of healthy participants. Thus, it appears that the latent aphasia of LHBD and the language deficits of RHBD patients are likely to remain undetected and that patients are at risk of not receiving appropriate treatment if their language abilities are not evaluated by an effective and efficient battery of language tests.

Automated summary

Previous studies found that commonly used tests for aphasia identification cannot detect the subtle language deficits of LHBD individuals. Similarly, individuals with RHBD often have undetected language disorders due to the lack of specialized tests for evaluating their language processing skills. This study aimed to evaluate the language deficits of 80 stroke survivors with LHBD or RHBD who were initially diagnosed as having no aphasia or language deficits. Results showed that both groups performed significantly worse compared to a healthy control group, highlighting the need for an effective battery of language tests to evaluate and treat patients' language abilities.