The Effect of Simultaneous Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation and Speech Therapy Treatment in Stroke Patients with Aphasia

Abstract

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a neuromodulating technique for the treatment of speech disorders after stroke in patients with aphasia. In the current study we examined the effect of tDCS over inferior frontal gyrus area in twelve aphasic male patients. We evaluated the accuracy of picture naming before and after the completion of anodal tDCS (2 mA, 20 min) stimulation during speech therapy, compared to tDCS and speech therapy taking place at different times and to the control group that only followed speech therapy. The post-treatment values of picture naming (14.96 ± 2.41) after simultaneous treatment with tDCS and speech therapy in the same therapeutic session, were statistically improved compared to the double treatment at different times (12.81 ± 2.12, p=0.04) and to speech therapy group (10.98±1.76, p=0.03), however, no statistical significance was recorded in post-treatment values between double treatment at different time group and speech therapy group (12.81 ± 2.12 vs 10.98±1.76 respectively, p=0.06). Simultaneous therapeutic session with tDCS and speech therapy can be used as a safe and effective interventional method, in place of the conventional speech-language therapy, for the treatment of aphasic patients following a stroke.