Lesion mapping in acute stroke aphasia and the implications for recovery

Stephanie J. Forkel, Marco Catani
Neuropsychologia. 2018-07-01; 115: 88-100
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2018.03.036

PubMed
Lire sur PubMed



Patients with stroke offer a unique window into understanding human brain
function. Mapping stroke lesions poses several challenges due to the complexity
of the lesion anatomy and the mechanisms causing local and remote disruption on
brain networks. In this prospective longitudinal study, we compare standard and
advanced approaches to white matter lesion mapping applied to acute stroke
patients with aphasia. Eighteen patients with acute left hemisphere stroke were
recruited and scanned within two weeks from symptom onset. Aphasia assessment was
performed at baseline and six-month follow-up. Structural and diffusion MRI
contrasts indicated an area of maximum overlap in the anterior external/extreme
capsule with diffusion images showing a larger overlap extending into posterior
perisylvian regions. Anatomical predictors of recovery included damage to
ipsilesional tracts (as shown by both structural and diffusion images) and
contralesional tracts (as shown by diffusion images only). These findings
indicate converging results from structural and diffusion lesion mapping methods
but also clear differences between the two approaches in their ability to
identify predictors of recovery outside the lesioned regions.

Copyright © 2018 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Auteurs Bordeaux Neurocampus