Subacute aphasia recovery is associated with resting‐state connectivity within and beyond the language network

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Melissa D. Stockbridge, Johns Hopkins University; Andreia V. Faria, Johns Hopkins University; Julius Fridriksson, University of South Carolina; Chris Rprdem, University of South Carolina; Leonardo Bonilha, Emory University; Argye E. Hillis, Johns Hopkins University
• Language: English
• Date: 2023-07-05
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: © 2023 The Authors. Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Neurological Association.
• License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International
• Final Published Version (URL): https://doi.org/10.1002%2Facn3.51842
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology
• Volume: 10
• Issue: 9
• Start Page: 1525
• End Page: 1532
• Grant/Funding Information: This work is supported by NIH/National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIH/NIDCD): P50 DC011739 and R01 DC05375. The imaging resources for this study were funded by National Institutes of Health grant 1S10OD021648.
• Keywords: stroke; aphasia
• Research Categories: Psychology, Cognitive

Abstract

Objective To examine changes to connectivity after aphasia treatment in the first 3 months after stroke. Methods Twenty people experiencing aphasia within the first 3 months of stroke completed MRI before and immediately following 15 hours of language treatment. They were classified based on their response to treatment on a naming test of nouns as either high responders (10% improvement or more), or low responders (<10% improvement). Groups were similar in age, gender distribution, education, days since stroke, stroke volume, and baseline severity. Resting‐state functional connectivity analysis was limited to the connectivity of the left fusiform gyrus with the bilateral inferior frontal gyrus, supramarginal gyrus, angular gyrus, and superior, middle, and inferior temporal gyrus, based on previous studies showing the importance of left fusiform gyrus in naming performance. Results Baseline ipsilateral connectivity between the left fusiform gyrus and the language network was similar between high and low responders to therapy when controlling for stroke volume. Following therapy, change in connectivity was significantly greater among high responders between the left fusiform gyrus and the ipsilateral and contralateral pars triangularis, ipsilateral pars opercularis and superior temporal gyrus, and contralateral angular gyrus when compared with low responders. Interpretation An account of these findings incorporates primarily proximal connectivity restoration, but also potentially reflects select contralateral compensatory reorganization. The latter is often associated with chronic recovery, reflecting the transitional nature of the subacute period.