Aphasia in brain-damaged adult patients refers "to the more or less complete loss of the ability to use language" resulting from acquired brain damage, typically of the left hemisphere. The defective spoken output of persons with aphasia (PWA) has anomia as a main clinical manifestation. Improving anomia is a main goal of any language treatment. The present randomized controlled study assessed the effectiveness of a novel, two-week, rehabilitation protocol (PHOLEXSEM), focused on PHonological, SEmantic, and LExical deficits, aiming at improving lexical retrieval, and, generally, spoken output. The effects of the PHOLEXSEM treatment were compared to those of a control treatment, i.e., a Promoting Aphasics Communicative Effectiveness (PACE) protocol. Finally, we studied the effects of age, education, disease duration, brain lesion volume, and functional independence (Functional Idependence Measure, FIM) on the treatment-induced linguistic improvements.
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Change from baseline in the Neuropsychological Examination of Language (ENPA)
Timeframe: At baseline and immediately after the intervention.
Change from baseline in phonemic fluency
Timeframe: At baseline and immediately after the intervention.
Change from baseline in semantic fluency
Timeframe: At baseline and immediately after the intervention.
Change from baseline in syntagma repetition
Timeframe: At baseline and immediately after the intervention.
Change from baseline in the auditory digit span
Timeframe: At baseline and immediately after the intervention.
Change from baseline in the word repetition span
Timeframe: At baseline and immediately after the intervention.
Change from baseline in the Token Test
Timeframe: At baseline and immediately after the intervention.