title: Constraint-Induced Aphasia Therapy for Treatment of Chronic Post-Stroke Aphasia: A Randomized, Blinded, Controlled Pilot Trial.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  To provide a preliminary estimate of efficacy of constraint-induced aphasia therapy (CIAT) when compared to no-intervention in patients with chronic (>1 year) post-stroke aphasia in order to plan an appropriately powered randomized controlled trial (RCT).
  
  
  METHODS
  We conducted a pilot single-blinded RCT. 24 patients were randomized: 14 to CIAT and 10 to no-intervention. CIAT groups received up to 4 hours/day of intervention for 10 consecutive business days (40 hours or therapy). Outcomes were assessed within 1 week of intervention and at 1 and 12 weeks after intervention and included several linguistic measures and a measure of overall subjective communication abilities (mini-Communicative Abilities Log (mini-CAL)). Clinicians treating patients (CIAT group) did not communicate with other team members to maintain blinding and the testing team members were blinded to treatment group assignment.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Overall, the results of this pilot RCT support the results of previous observational studies that CIAT may lead to improvements in linguistic abilities. At 12 weeks, the treatment group reported better subjective communication abilities (mini-CAL) than the no-intervention group (p=0.019). Other measures trended towards better performance in the CIAT group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In this pilot RCT intensive language therapy led to an improvement in subjective language abilities. The effects demonstrated allow the design of a definitive trial of CIAT in patients with a variety of post-stroke aphasia types. In addition, our experiences have identified important considerations for designing subsequent trial(s) of CIAT or other interventions for post-stroke aphasia.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA.
authors.forename: Jerzy P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Szaflarski
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Health Sciences, Texas A&M University Kingsville, Kingsville, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Angel L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Ball
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA.
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Vannest
authors.affiliation: Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, College of Allied Health Sciences, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, USA.
authors.forename: Aimee R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Dietz
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA.
authors.forename: Jane B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Allendorfer
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA.
authors.forename: Amber N
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, USA.
authors.forename: Kimberly
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hart
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, USA.
authors.forename: Christopher J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Lindsell
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001037:Aphasia / Q000150:complications* / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003142:Communication; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007808:Language Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010865:Pilot Projects; D012107:Research Design; D016037:Single-Blind Method; D020521:Stroke / Q000150:complications*; D000071939:Stroke Rehabilitation; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome