Deans' stroke musings: Constraint-Induced Aphasia Therapy in the Acute Stage What Is the Key Factor for Efficacy? A Randomized Controlled Study

Changing stroke rehab and research worldwide now.Time is Brain! trillions and trillions of neurons that DIE each day because there are NO effective hyperacute therapies besides tPA(only 12% effective). I have 523 posts on hyperacute therapy, enough for researchers to spend decades proving them out. These are my personal ideas and blog on stroke rehabilitation and stroke research. Do not attempt any of these without checking with your medical provider. Unless you join me in agitating, when you need these therapies they won't be there.

What this blog is for:

My blog is not to help survivors recover, it is to have the 10 million yearly stroke survivors light fires underneath their doctors, stroke hospitals and stroke researchers to get stroke solved. 100% recovery. The stroke medical world is completely failing at that goal, they don't even have it as a goal. Shortly after getting out of the hospital and getting NO information on the process or protocols of stroke rehabilitation and recovery I started searching on the internet and found that no other survivor received useful information. This is an attempt to cover all stroke rehabilitation information that should be readily available to survivors so they can talk with informed knowledge to their medical staff. It lays out what needs to be done to get stroke survivors closer to 100% recovery. It's quite disgusting that this information is not available from every stroke association and doctors group.

Monday, December 12, 2016

Constraint-Induced Aphasia Therapy in the Acute Stage What Is the Key Factor for Efficacy? A Randomized Controlled Study

No clue how to do CIAT and they don't refer to a publicly available protocol so you can ask your doctor for such therapy. So once again you are screwed.
http://nnr.sagepub.com/content/31/1/72?etoc

¹Neurologisches Rehabilitationszentrum Leipzig, University of Leipzig, Germany
²Brandenburgklinik, Bernau, Germany

Hartwig Woldag, Neurologisches Rehabilitationszentrum Leipzig, University of Leipzig, Muldentalweg 1, D-04828 Bennewitz bei Leipzig, Germany. Email: woldag@sachsenklinik.de

Abstract

Background. Constraint-induced aphasia therapy (CIAT) has proven effective in patients with subacute and chronic forms of aphasia. It has remained unclear, however, whether intensity of therapy or constraint is the relevant factor. Data about intensive speech and language therapy (SLT) are conflicting.

Objective. To identify the effective component of CIAT and assess the feasibility of SLT in the acute stage after stroke.

Method. A total of 60 patients with aphasia (68.2 ± 11.7 years) were enrolled 18.9 days after first-ever stroke. They were randomly distributed into 3 groups: (1) CIAT group receiving therapy for 3 hours per day (10 workdays, total 30 hours); (2) conventional communication treatment group, with same intensity without constraints; and (3) control group receiving individual therapy twice a day as well as group therapy (total 14 hours). Patients were assessed pretreatment and posttreatment using the Aachener Aphasia Test (primary end point: token test) and the Communicative Activity Log (CAL).

Results. Pretreatment, there were no between-group differences. Posttreatment, all groups showed significant improvements without between-group differences.

Conclusion. It was found that 14 hours of aphasia therapy administered within 2 weeks as individual therapy, focusing on individual deficits, combined with group sessions has proven to be most efficient. This approach yielded the same outcome as 30 hours of group therapy, either in the form of CIAT or group therapy without constraints. SLT in an intensive treatment schedule is feasible and was well tolerated in the acute stage after stroke.