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Aphasia recovery
- Aphasia听is a听language disorder听which can听occur after听brain injury, such as a stroke.
- People with aphasia can have听difficulty听with听speaking,听understanding,听reading听and听writing. 听
- Having听aphasia听can be听traumatic听and听life-changing听for听patients听and听relatives.
What patients and relatives want to know
- Patients want to know if they will recover, and how long it will take.
- Currently, it is听very difficult听to听answer听this.
- The听PLORAS听project aims听to听solve听this听problem.
Project aims
Aim 1
To听tell future听stroke survivors:
- How much听language they are听likely to re-gain.
- How long听this is听likely to take.
We hope to give听future patients听a听prediction听about their听recovery.
Each听prediction听shows听how much confidence we have听in听it.
For example:
- We are听more confident听if听90% of patients听with the听same stroke听area听recovered听in a particular听time-frame. 听
- We are听less confident听if only听50% of patients听recovered听in a particular听time-frame.
Aim 2
We want to听explain:
- Why some patients听respond better to treatment听than others.
- Why some patients听recover more quickly听than others.
We hope this information can听guide future aphasia therapy.
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Find out more...
PLORAS aims to听create a clinical tool for patients and clinicians which will provide individualised predictions about the most likely course of recovery from aphasia after stroke, based on the patient's MRI brain image.
These predictions are based on the exact location, size and shape of the lesion at a very detailed level. This has become possible due to advances in neuroimaging and computational techniques.听In practical terms, future patients with aphasia can be shown the rate and level of improvement that other individuals with the same area of brain damage experienced over time.
Critically, each prediction indicates the level of confidence that we have in it.听For example, we can be confident when we know that more than 90% of patients with the same lesion site recovered within a particular time frame, but we are less confident if only 50% of patients recovered, because this indicates that the effect of the lesion varies across patients.
When we are confident in our predictions, we hope to be able to relay encouraging news. E.g. '80% of people with the same stroke site as you recovered their language within 5 years'.
For other lesion sites, with less consistent outcomes, we are working on ways to improve our knowledge of these lesions and interact with clinicians and patients in ways that are individualised and optimised for the patient and their family.
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Aphasia recovery