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Current to the brain improves word-finding difficulties in aphasic patients

Correspondence to:
Stefano F Cappa, Vita-Salute University and Clinical Neurosciences Department, San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The paper by Monti et al¹ (see page 10.1136/jnnp.2007.135277) reports the effects of transcranial direct current stimulation (DCS) in chronic vascular aphasia. Cathodal stimulation, applied to the left frontotemporal cortex of eight patients, resulted in significant improvements in the ability to name object pictures correctly. Word finding problems are a universal feature of language disturbances after brain damage. Aphasia is frequently observed after stroke (38% of patients in the acute stage according to the Copenhagen study²) and is an important predictor of poor functional outcome.³ Whereas the reviews of evidence about the effectiveness of language rehabilitation have led to inconclusive results, few practitioners doubt that interventions are needed to help patients recover their communicative abilities. A number of investigations have shown that interference with cortical activity, by means of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) or transcranial DCS, can affect the performance of healthy subjects in language tasks. . . . [Full text of this article]

Relevant Article

Improved naming after transcranial direct current stimulation in aphasia

A Monti, F Cogiamanian, S Marceglia, R Ferrucci, F Mameli, S Mrakic-Sposta, M Vergari, S Zago, and A Priori
J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatry 2008 79: 451-453. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]