Caterina Breitenstein, Tanja Grewe, Agnes Flöel, Wolfram Ziegler, Luise Springer, Peter Martus, Walter Huber, Klaus Willmes, E Bernd Ringelstein, Karl Georg Haeusler, Stefanie Abel, Ralf Glindemann, Frank Domahs, Frank Regenbrecht, Klaus-Jürgen Schlenck, Marion Thomas, Hellmuth Obrig, Ernst de Langen, Roman Rocker, Franziska Wigbers, Christina Rühmkorf, Indra Hempen, Jonathan List, Annette Baumgaertner
BACKGROUND: Treatment guidelines for aphasia recommend intensive speech and language therapy for chronic (≥6 months) aphasia after stroke, but large-scale, class 1 randomised controlled trials on treatment effectiveness are scarce. We aimed to examine whether 3 weeks of intensive speech and language therapy under routine clinical conditions improved verbal communication in daily-life situations in people with chronic aphasia after stroke. METHODS: In this multicentre, parallel group, superiority, open-label, blinded-endpoint, randomised controlled trial, patients aged 70 years or younger with aphasia after stroke lasting for 6 months or more were recruited from 19 inpatient or outpatient rehabilitation centres in Germany...
April 15, 2017: Lancet