Recovery of Naming Abilities in Aphasia: fMRI Brain Connectivity Analysis in Case Studies

This study investigates the impact of treatment on functional connectivity (FC) in post-stroke aphasia patients using fMRI. FC changes are analyzed within key language-related brain regions before, immediately after, and three months following a three-month treatment period to explore the persistence of treatment-induced neuroplasticity. This analysis focused on identifying changes in synchronous brain activity, measured by BOLD signal correlations. It is observed that patients exhibiting initial naming improvement followed by decline after treatment cessation showed increased FC between specific regions, including the left IFG and thalamus, left SFG and supramarginal gyrus, left MTG and STG, left insula and right lenticular nucleus, and right IPG and SFG. These connectivity gains diminished after treatment discontinuation, correlating with decreased naming ability. Furthermore, it is found a dynamic relationship between the right SFG and left ITG, where higher connectivity correlated with poorer naming performance, decreasing as naming improved. These findings reveal potential compensatory mechanisms within the brain's language network and provide insights for optimizing aphasia treatment strategies.Clinical Relevance- This study emphasizes the critical need for early and continuous aphasia therapy. fMRI's ability to track brain connectivity changes offers valuable insights for developing personalized treatment strategies, potentially improving patient outcomes by tailoring interventions to individual brain responses.