View clinical trials related to Aphasia.
Filter by: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.
Virtual reality-based aphasia rehabilitation has been shown to improve the language skills of individuals with aphasia in the chronic period after stroke. However, non-immersive or semi-immersive rehabilitation methods have often been adopted in the studies. Considering the importance of the visual given to the patient for naming, it can be thought that full immersive therapy may be more effective. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the effect of cue-based aphasia naming therapy in a fully immersive virtual reality environment on aphasia severity and aphasia-related quality of life and to compare it with standard cue treatments.
Background and aim There is a growing awareness that people with aphasia (language problems) after a stroke often have difficulties with their short-term memory (STM). As a result, the explanation underlying aphasia has recently been seen as a language processing disorder, where multiple cognitive processes interact. To evaluate the cognitive processes underlying aphasia, there is a need for reliable and valid assessment tools. However, the quality of tests usually used to assess STM problems in aphasia patients is questioned because they are not specifically designed to be used in aphasia patients. This raises some concern, as impairments of STM can be predictive for the recovery and rehabilitation of aphasia patients. As an important exception, a recent study has developed a new English evaluation tool (i.e., The Temple Assessment of Language and (Verbal) Short-term Memory in Aphasia; TALSA) that examines language and STM aspects specifically developed for persons with aphasia. However, the existence of a Dutch evaluation tool specifically designed to assess language and STM problems in people with aphasia after a stroke is lacking. Therefore, the aim of the current study is to develop a Dutch clinical version of the TALSA battery that may lead to better diagnosis and treatment of STM problems in persons with aphasia. The development of the test focuses on its clinical feasibility (e.g. test duration, difficulty of the items and response modality). Pilot testing of the Dutch STM assessment instrument in the clinical and healthy population is very important to adapt the test where necessary. In addition, the quality of the test should also be carefully evaluated. Method The first step towards the development of a Dutch STM assessment instrument is the careful selection of the most crucial subtests of the original TALSA battery. Not all subtests will be selected due to the long testing time of the TALSA battery, and as mentioned earlier, the Dutch STM assessment tool focuses on clinical feasibility of the test. The second step is pilot testing the Dutch STM assessment instrument in persons with aphasia and healthy persons. Persons with aphasia will be recruited at the Stroke unit of Ghent University Hospital. All eligible patients will be asked to provide written informed consent to participate in this study. Three tests will be administered, namely the Oxford Cognitive Screen, the Token Test and the Dutch STM assessment tool. It is important that these tests are taken on the same day or on two consecutive days, depending on the circumstances (e.g. fatigue). The Token Test and Oxford Cognitive Screen provide a picture of the patient's cognitive profile. Throughout the process of pilot testing, the Dutch STM assessment tool will be adapted and improved where necessary. In order to verify or adjust the difficulty of the items, it is crucial that the STM assessment instrument is also tested on a small number of healthy control subjects (recruited via social media platforms).
Frontotemporal degeneration (FTD) is a non-Alzheimer's dementia that is the 2nd most common cause of dementia in the United States. FTD may present with focal language symptoms that are clinically described as primary progressive aphasia (PPA). There are two types of PPA associated with FTD-semantic variant primary progressive aphasia (SV-PPA) and nonfluent/agrammatic variant primary progressive aphasia (NFV-PPA). Both diseases are progressive neurodegenerative disease processes that compromise dominant hemisphere large scale brain network function, ultimately resulting in mutism. There are currently no FDA-approved treatments for PPA and management is mostly supportive. In combination with resting state functional MRI (rs-fMRI), transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) with intermittent theta burst stimulation (iTBS) offers a non-invasive alternative to pharmacotherapy in persons with PPA. In our prior studies of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Lewy body Dementia (LBD) subjects, investigators have determined that the anterior temporal pole (area TGd and TGv) is an area that is commonly dysfunctional in dementia. The investigators have already embarked upon an fMRI guided study of iTBS in early stage Alzheimer's disease where subjects received a series of 5 treatments to distinct brain regions inclusive of area TGd. The investigators propose a case study of 3 PPA studies where rs-fMRI is applied to the large-scale language networks.
This study is recruiting people who had a stroke at least 1 month ago and now have a language impairment called aphasia. Living with aphasia can have devastating effects on communication and quality of life, and it is not uncommon for survivors with aphasia to face psychological problems like depression and anxiety. Participants who are eligible for this study will undergo baseline testing, engage in a 5-week treatment focused on psychological well-being, undergo post-treatment testing, and then testing again 1-month later. Check-in phone calls will be conducted during the 1-month off period and participants will be interviewed about their experience at the end of the study as well. Compensation will be provided to participants with aphasia.
Existing evidence-based treatments for word-level and sentence-level impairments following aphasia typically do not generalise to gains in everyday communication for people with aphasia (after stroke). Novel treatments need to be developed to address this. LUNA is a novel multi-level discourse treatment for people with mild to moderate aphasia that addresses personal narratives in a personalised and meta-linguistic and metacognitive manner. This is a feasibility randomised waitlist controlled trial of LUNA, in 28 people with post-stroke chronic aphasia. It will test feasibility, acceptability, preliminary efficacy, and treatment fidelity. Findings will enable the investigators to judge whether there is merit in proceeding to a larger definitive trial.
This study is clinical trial based and the target population in this study is patients with post-stroke aphasia. Cognitive linguistic quick test (CLQT) and Speech Language unhelpful thoughts and belief scale (SLUTBS) will apply as an assessment. Inclusive criteria include diagnosed male and female post-stroke severe aphasia patients above 30 years of age. These participants must have high instance of unhelpful speech language thoughts and belief. Participants in inclusive criteria must not be participated in any other psychotherapy/ speech language intervention program. Participants must sign an informed consent form. Participants having a caregiver who is willing to be present during the period of intervention. Exclusive criteria include individuals below 30 years of age and patients with aphasia caused by non-stroke etiology. The aim of the study is to check the effects of cognitive behavior language therapy on patients with post-stroke aphasia. So, it will help speech language pathologists to adopt the principles of CBLT intervention to treat aphasia that occurs as a result of aphasia.
This study will evaluate evidence-based treatments for adults with mild Primary Progressive Aphasia (PPA). The aim of the study is to help identify efficacious communication and quality of life interventions for those with PPA and their care-partners. Participants with a diagnosis of PPA and their actively-engaged care partners will be involved in the study for 12 months. Each participant will receive a iPad equipped with the necessary applications and features for the study. Participants will complete evaluations, speech therapy sessions with a speech and language therapist, and sessions with a licensed social worker or related clinician. They will have access to Communication Bridge, a personalized web application to practice home exercises that reinforce treatment strategies. There are no costs to participate in this study.
The study aims to assess an individual or self-administered computer therapy's effectiveness in grammatical time marking. The main objective is to examine whether the therapy improves grammatical time marking of inflected verbs treated on the sessions. We also explore whether the observed progress can be transferred to untrained items, more ecological contexts and if is maintained two and four weeks after the end of treatment. This therapy will be administered to six individuals with brain lesions after stroke. Four individuals will take part of the individual therapy and two individuals will take part of the self-administered computer therapy. The therapy will last one month, at the rate of three weekly sessions of approximately one hour.
The purpose of this study is to establish the feasibility of a program of remotely supervised transcranial direct current stimulation (RS-tDCS) paired with language skills practice for people living with the semantic or logopenic variants of primary progressive aphasia (PPA). There are currently no established standard-of-care treatments for PPA. This study will evaluate whether RS-tDCS combined with language skills practice is a feasible study design for individuals with PPA.