The Influence of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation on the Effectiveness of Intensive Language-Action Therapy (ILAT) in Post-stroke Aphasia

Recent studies in post-stroke language recovery suggest that non-invasive brain stimulation methods (NIBS) might be promising in terms of increasing efficiency of already existing language therapies. However, there is still limited research of language therapies and NIBS methods applied together. The present work examines the efficiency of intensive language-action therapy (ILAT) in Russian, in combination with transcranial direct current stimulation, one of the most common NIBS used in post-stroke aphasia rehabilitation. To measure the progress of the therapy, the results of the Russian Aphasiology Test (RAT) were evaluated in two groups of subjects (N=10) with chronic post-stroke aphasia: 1) the patients (N=4) who received ILAT combined with anodal tDCS during the first 20 minutes of every therapy session, 2) the patients (N=6) who experienced ILAT and sham tDCS during the first minute of every therapy session. In order to observe if there is an overall improvement in language recovery or an enhancement in particular tasks due to tDCS, we intend to analyze and compare the RAT data collected in the two groups before the beginning of the therapy and just after the end of ILAT. We hope that the findings of our research will shed light on the probable efficiency of tDCS for ILAT in post-stroke aphasia, which is particularly valuable since the study is specifically performed on Russian-speaking subjects.