Aphasia Neuroplasticity Review

Chau et al. (2010)

Reference

AuthorsChau AC, Fai Cheung RT, Jiang X, Au-Yeung PK, Li LS
TitleAn fMRI study showing the effect of acupuncture in chronic stage stroke patients with aphasia
ReferenceJ Acupunct Meridian Stud 2010; 30: 53-57
PMID20633517
DOI10.1016/s2005-2901(10)60009-x

Participants

LanguageCantonese
Inclusion criteria
Number of individuals with aphasia7
Number of control participants0
Were any of the participants included in any previous studies?No
Is age reported for patients and controls, and matched?Yes (mean 63 ± 10 years, range 56-79 years)
Is sex reported for patients and controls, and matched?Yes (males: 5; females: 2)
Is handedness reported for patients and controls, and matched?Yes (right: 7; left: 0)
Is time post stroke onset reported and appropriate to the study design?Yes (mean 17 ± 8 months, range 8-28 months)
To what extent is the nature of aphasia characterized?Severity only
Language evaluationCantonese Aphasia Battery (modified WAB)
Aphasia severity5 patients had AQ > 75, 2 had AQ < 30
Aphasia typeNot stated
First stroke only?Yes
Stroke typeIschemic only
To what extent is the lesion distribution characterized?Location only
Lesion extentNot stated
Lesion location3 L MCA, 2 L frontal, 2 L basal ganglia
Participants notes

Imaging

ModalityfMRI
Is the study cross-sectional or longitudinal?Longitudinal—chronic treatment
If longitudinal, at what time point(s) were imaging data acquired?T1: pre-treatment/chronic; T2: post-treatment, ~10 weeks later
If longitudinal, was there any intervention between the time points?Acupuncture, 3 sessions/week, 8 weeks
Is the scanner described?No (not stated)
Is the timing of stimulus presentation and image acquisition clearly described and appropriate?No (inconsistent information regarding timing)
Design typeBlock
Total images acquired90?
Are the imaging acquisition parameters, including coverage, adequately described and appropriate?Yes (whole brain)
Is preprocessing and intrasubject coregistration adequately described and appropriate?Yes
Is first level model fitting adequately described and appropriate?Yes
Is intersubject normalization adequately described and appropriate?No (lesion impact not addressed)
Imaging notes

Conditions

Are the conditions clearly described?No* (moderate limitation) (nature of questions not described in detail)
ConditionResponse typeRepetitionsAll groups could do?All individuals could do?
answering questions from Cantonese Aphasia BatteryButton press3UnknownUnknown
visual decisionButton press3UnknownUnknown
Conditions notesResponses involved raising left or right finger (not button press per se)

Contrasts

Are the contrasts clearly described?Yes

Contrast 1: answering questions from Cantonese Aphasia Battery vs visual decision

Language conditionAnswering questions from Cantonese Aphasia Battery
Control conditionVisual decision
Are the conditions matched for visual demands?No
Are the conditions matched for auditory demands?No
Are the conditions matched for motor demands?Yes
Are the conditions matched for cognitive/executive demands?No
Is accuracy matched between the language and control tasks for all relevant groups?N/A, tasks not comparable
Is reaction time matched between the language and control tasks for all relevant groups?N/A, tasks not comparable
Behavioral data notes
Are control data reported in this paper or another that is referenced?No
Does the contrast selectively activate plausible relevant language regions in the control group?Unknown
Are activations lateralized in the control data?Unknown
Control activation notes
Contrast notes

Analyses

Are the analyses clearly described?No* (moderate limitation) (see specific limitation(s) below)

Voxelwise analysis 1

First level contrastAnswering questions from Cantonese Aphasia Battery vs visual decision
Analysis classLongitudinal correlation with language or other measure
Group(s)Aphasia T2 vs T1
CovariateΔ WAB AQ
Is the second level contrast valid in terms of the group(s), time point(s), and measures involved?Somewhat (no treatment effect)
Is accuracy matched across the second level contrast?Unknown, not reported
Is reaction time matched across the second level contrast?Unknown, not reported
Behavioral data notes
Type of analysisVoxelwise
Search volumeWhole brain
Correction for multiple comparisonsUnclear or not stated
SoftwareSPM2
Voxelwise p
Cluster extent
Statistical detailsStated to be corrected p < 0.05, but the nature of correction is not described; it is not entirely clear whether the functional measure was the difference between T1 and T2 (we assume it is); it is also not clear whether or not 2 patients with low AQ were excluded (we assume not)
Findings↑ L posterior MTG
Findings notesFinding based on table; additional small activations are shown in figure but not table

Notes

Excluded analyses