Why is it difficult to predict language impairment and outcome in patients with aphasia after stroke?
One of the most devastating consequences of stroke is aphasia. Communication problems after stroke can severely impair the patient's quality of life and make even simple everyday tasks challenging. Despite intense research in the field of aphasiology, the type of language impairment has not yet been localized and correlated with brain damage, making it difficult to predict the language outcome for stroke patients with aphasia. Our primary objective is to present the available evidence that highlights the difficulties of predicting language impairment after stroke. The different levels of complexity involved in predicting the lesion site from language impairment and ultimately predicting the long-term outcome in stroke patients with aphasia were explored. Future directions and potential implications for research and clinical practice are highlighted.
Stroke Research Group, Department of Brain Repair and Rehabilitation, UCL Institute of Neurology, National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, London, UK.
Andreas
A
Charidimou
Department of Psychology, University of Crete, Rethymno, Greece. ; Department of Neurology, Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Eginition Hospital, Athens, Greece.
Dimitrios
D
Kasselimis
Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, Department of Linguistics, University College London (UCL), London, UK.
Maria
M
Varkanitsa
Institute of Neurology, The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, University College London (UCL), London, UK.
Caroline
C
Selai
Department of Neurology, Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Eginition Hospital, Athens, Greece.
Constantin
C
Potagas
Department of Neurology, Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Eginition Hospital, Athens, Greece.
Ioannis
I
Evdokimidis
aphasia; language impairment; stroke