Aphasia, Acquired, Stroke, Anomia
Conditions
Brief summary
Aphasia in brain-damaged adult patients refers to the more or less complete loss of the ability to use language resulting from acquired brain damage, typically of the left hemisphere. The defective spoken output of persons with aphasia (PWA) has anomia as a main clinical manifestation. Improving anomia is a main goal of any language treatment. The present randomized controlled study assessed the effectiveness of a novel, two-week, rehabilitation protocol (PHOLEXSEM), focused on PHonological, SEmantic, and LExical deficits, aiming at improving lexical retrieval, and, generally, spoken output. The effects of the PHOLEXSEM treatment were compared to those of a control treatment, i.e., a Promoting Aphasics Communicative Effectiveness (PACE) protocol. Finally, we studied the effects of age, education, disease duration, brain lesion volume, and functional independence (Functional Idependence Measure, FIM) on the treatment-induced linguistic improvements.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALPHOLEXSEM
Phonological, Lexical, and Semantic training
BEHAVIORALPACE
See arm description
Sponsors
Istituto Auxologico Italiano
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to 90 Years
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
* acquired brain-damage * presence of aphasia
Exclusion criteria
* global aphasia * undergoing another treatment for aphasia
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Change from baseline in the Neuropsychological Examination of Language (ENPA) | At baseline and immediately after the intervention. | A test for aphasia assessment in the Italian population |
| Change from baseline in phonemic fluency | At baseline and immediately after the intervention. | To assess lexical retrieval based on a letter |
| Change from baseline in semantic fluency | At baseline and immediately after the intervention. | To assess lexical retrieval based on a semantic category |
| Change from baseline in syntagma repetition | At baseline and immediately after the intervention. | The syntagma repetition test from the Aachner Aphasie Test (AAT) |
| Change from baseline in the auditory digit span | At baseline and immediately after the intervention. | To assess auditory verbal short-term memory |
| Change from baseline in the word repetition span | At baseline and immediately after the intervention. | To assess auditory verbal short-term memory, with words stimuli |
| Change from baseline in the Token Test | At baseline and immediately after the intervention. | To assess auditory language comprehension |
Outcome results
None listed