Longitudinal Imaging of Reading and Naming Recovery after Stroke.
Charltien Long, Rajani Sebastian, Andreia V Faria and 1 others
PMID 30127542WHAT IT FOUND
Brain activation patterns for reading and naming changed differently over a year in five stroke survivors, regardless of whether their language skills improved or declined.
A shift in brain activity did not reliably predict recovery. Individual outcomes varied widely, with some patients declining in reading skills.
Key findings
01Reading and naming tasks elicited divergent changes in brain activation patterns from the subacute to the chronic phase post-stroke, whether individuals improved or declined in the tasks.
02The shift in peak brain activation from the right to the left hemisphere during reading tasks was not clearly associated with improvement in reading performance.
03Two patients showed a significant decline in nonword reading skills at the final time point, and one showed a significant decline in word reading.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The sample size was very small (five stroke participants), limiting generalizability. All stroke participants had similar lesion locations (left posterior cerebral artery), so results may not apply to the more common middle cerebral artery strokes. The reading task was silent (covert) while the naming task was spoken (overt), which introduces differences in effort and cognitive demands unrelated to the language function itself. Participants had varying access to speech and language therapy after discharge, which may have influenced behavioral outcomes.
Declared interests
The authors declare no conflicts of interest. The study was supported by the National Institutes of Health.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the observed shift in brain activation from the right to the left hemisphere during reading as evidence that the patient's language ability is recovering. This neural change occurred regardless of whether the patient's actual reading skills improved, declined, or stayed the same.