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Updated: May 14, 2025
Utilizing Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation to Improve Language Function in Stroke Patients with Chronic Non-fluent Aphasia
Published on: July 2, 2013
The effect of venlafaxine on language function in patients with subcortical aphasia
Lingjie Wang1, Chunyong Li2, Liu Liu3
1Department of Neurology, Huizhou Central People's Hospital, No. 41, Eling North Road, Huizhou, Guangdong Province, 516001, PR China.
Objective:
To investigate the effect of venlafaxine on the recovery of language function in patients with subcortical aphasia by using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and to provide a theoretical basis for clinical drug treatment in patients with subcortical aphasia.
Methods:
Thirty-two patients with subcortical aphasia after acute stroke were randomly divided into a venlafaxine group and a control group, with 16 patients in each group. Behavioral assessments of speech function and fMRI were performed three times at 3 ± 2 days (V1), 30 ± 7 days (V2), and 90 ± 7 days (V3) after symptom onset. Behavioral assessments of speech function included the Chinese version of the Western Aphasia Test, the spontaneous word frequency test, and the image naming test. fMRI examinations include task-fMRI, resting-state fMRI (rs-fMRI), and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI).
Results:
① There were no differences in language function scores between the venlafaxine and control groups at pretreatment (P > 0.05); however, the venlafaxine group scores were higher than those of the control group at time points V2 and V3 (P < 0.05), and the venlafaxine group scores were significantly greater at V2 than at V1 (P < 0.05) and at V3 than at V2 (P < 0.05). ② Regarding fMRI results, there were no significant between-group differences at V1, whereas compared with those in the control group, the venlafaxine group had greater activation and functional connection of the bilateral Broca area and structural connectivity of nerve fibers in the nondominant dorsal and ventral pathways at V2 and greater activation and functional activity of the bilateral Broca region and increased structural connectivity of the bilateral ventral pathway nerve fibers at V3.
Conclusion:
Early application of venlafaxine can significantly promote the recovery of language function in patients with subcortical aphasia. With the recovery of language function, we observed corresponding changes in the fMRI data of patients at various stages after stroke. These results are helpful for understanding the mechanism of language function recovery in patients with subcortical aphasia and provide new ideas for the treatment of aphasia after stroke.
