Early Aphasia Rehabilitation Is Associated With Functional Reactivation of the Left Inferior Frontal Gyrus

Background and Purpose—Early poststroke aphasia rehabilitation effects and their functional MRI (fMRI) correlates were investigated in a pilot, controlled longitudinal study.

Methods—Twelve patients with mild/moderate aphasia (8 Broca, 3 anomic, and 1 Wernicke) were randomly assigned to daily language rehabilitation for 2 weeks (starting 2.2 [mean] days poststroke) or no rehabilitation. The Aachen Aphasia Test and fMRI recorded during an auditory comprehension task were performed at 3 time intervals: mean 2.2 (T1), 16.2 (T2), and 190 (T3) days poststroke. Read More