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 …