Altered Spontaneous Brain Activity in Poststroke Aphasia: A Resting-State fMRI Study

Abstract

Purpose: Brain areas frequently implicated in language recovery after stroke comprise perilesional sites in the left hemisphere and homotopic regions in the right hemisphere. However, the neuronal mechanisms underlying language restoration are still largely unclear. Methods and materials: In the present study, we investigated the brain function in 15 patients with poststroke aphasia and 30 matched control subjects by combining the regional homogeneity (ReHo) and amplitudes of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) analysis methods based on resting-state fMRI. Results: Compared to the control subjects, the patients with aphasia exhibited increased ReHo and ALFF values in the ipsilateral perilesional areas and increased ReHo in the contralesional right middle frontal gyrus. Conclusions: The increased spontaneous brain activity in patients with poststroke aphasia during the recovery period, specifically in the ipsilateral perilesional regions and the homologous language regions of the right hemisphere, has potential implications for the treatment of patients with aphasia.