Functional Imaging Before and After Constraint-Induced Language Therapy for Aphasia Using Magnetoencephalography

Abstract

Five patients with chronic aphasia underwent functional imaging using magnetoencephalography (MEG) before and after constraint-induced language therapy (CILT). Patients who responded well to CILT exhibited a greater degree of late MEG activation in posterior language areas of the left hemisphere and homotopic areas of the right hemisphere prior to therapy than those who did not respond well. Response to CILT, however, was positively correlated with the degree of pre-therapy MEG activity within posterior areas of the right hemisphere only on an individual basis.

This work was supported by NIH/NINDS Grant #P51-NS046588 to A.C. Papanicolaou and the Vivian L. Smith Center for Neurologic Research. The authors wish to thank Stephanie Schmadeke for her assistance with this project, and our volunteers with aphasia for the invaluable contribution of their time and effort.