Theta Burst Stimulation Over the Right Broca's Homologue Induces Improvement of Naming in Aphasic Patients

Abstract

Background and Purpose-Improvements of language production in aphasic patients have been reported following repeated 1-Hz transcranial magnetic stimulation over the nondamaged right hemisphere. Most studies examined aphasic patients in the chronic phase. The effect of transcranial magnetic stimulation application in acute or subacute patients has not been systematically studied. We aimed to evaluate whether continuous theta burst stimulation, an inhibitory protocol with a shorter application time than the common 1-Hz protocol, is able to improve naming performance in aphasic patients in different poststroke phases. Methods-Eighteen right-handed aphasic patients performed a picture naming task and a language independent alertness test before and after the application of theta burst stimulation over the intact right Broca's homologue localized by the 10 -20 electroencephalogram system in a randomized, sham-controlled, crossover trial. Results-We found that naming performance was significantly better, and naming latency was significantly shorter, after theta burst stimulation than after the sham intervention. Patients who responded best were in the subacute phase after stroke. Conclusions-This

Effects of Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation in the Rehabilitation of Communication and Deglutition Disorders: Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials

“…1). We included a total of 10 studies, 5 about aphasia [9,11,26,27,28], 3 related to dysphagia [10,14,15], 1 about hypokinetic dysarthria in PD [7], and another one regarding a language deficit that was a consequence of AD [8]. Posteriorly, an aphasia study [28] was excluded because of a low JADAD score [25].…”

“…According to the JADAD scale [25] (table 3), only 1 study had a low quality and was therefore excluded from the analysis [28]. Three studies had a score reduction due to a lack of information on the randomization method [8,15,26], and 2 did not report losses and exclusions [7,14].…”

Auditory verbal hallucinations: imaging, analysis, and intervention

“…Plasticity is the ability of the brain to reorganize itself, enabling short-and long-term remodeling of neural communication that outlasts an experimental manipulation or period of training. A new TMS protocol that has recently been introduced into clinical research is theta burst stimulation (TBS) [10,15]. Compared with the often used 1 Hz stimulation protocol, TBS has the advantage that the application duration is very short, making the treatment more convenient for the patient.…”

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation as an Intervention Tool to Recover from Language, Swallowing and Attentional Deficits after Stroke: A Systematic Review

“…Motor deficits after stroke have been given particular attention; however, other types of deficits are also relevant such as communication skills [3][4][5], swallowing abilities [6,7] and attention [8,9].…”

“…Cerebrovasc Dis 2018;46:176-183 DOI: 10.1159/000494213 Communication Aphasia, described as a total or partial loss of language functions, [3] is a very frequent disability among stroke patients and severely restricts communication and the ability to engage in social interactions [4,[10][11][12]. This syndrome arises from damage to the language dominant hemisphere -generally the left hemisphere in righthanded people [4,13,14].…”