Recovery Pattern of Aphasias in Stroke Patients - A Study of 30 Patients.

Cerebro Vascular disorders rank among the leading causes of death and disabling diseases. Of the entire stroke population, approximately 20-30% are left with communication deficits- Aphasia. So, in depth knowledge of aphasia is necessary for assessing prognosis and selecting appropriate rehabilitations methods. Knowledge of recovery and rehabilitation in aphasia is based mostly on studies of post-traumatic patients in whom the outcome is known to be more favourable than in patients whose aphasia is associated with vascular aetiology. Few aphasia recovery studies have been concerned exclusively with stroke patients. In the present study, spontaneous recovery pattern of aphasias in stroke patients was studied with WESTERN APHASIA BATTERY at repeated intervals over a period of 6 months. The objectives of this study are : 1. To study the time course of spontaneous recovery of aphasia in acute stroke patients. 2. To compare the recovery patterns between different types of aphasia. 3. To evaluate the factors which influence the recovery patterns 4. To correlate the clinical syndrome of aphasia with the anatomical substrate in the CT Scan. Recovery pattern of thirty patients with aphasia were studied over a period of six months by measuring language performance (Aphasia Quotient) at 4th week, 8th week, 16th week and 24th week using Tamil version of modified western aphasia battery. Maximum recovery was noted in patients with transcortical motor aphasia, and conduction aphasia. Out of three patients with conduction aphasia, two patients were transformed in to anomia at the end of six months period. Patients with transcortical motor aphasia became normal at end of test period. Patients with Broca’s aphasia showed a fair recovery in overall test period. Two patients out of nine evolved into transcortical motor aphasia. Eventhough, global aphasia showed poor recovery, auditory word recognition was noted to improve to a considerable degree. Three out of nine patients evolved into Broca’s aphasia at the end of six months. Within showing recovery groups significant improvement was noted from 8th week of stroke. • Initial severity and final outcome correlated significantly (i.e) patients with initial high scores indicating mild involvement improved better. There was good correlation with the clinical-anatomical location of lesion and computerised tomography scan