A preliminarily study of electrical stimulation of cerebellum on the rehabilitation treatment of patients with post-stroke Broca aphasia

Objective To explore the efficacy of electrical stimulation of cerebellum on the rehabilitation treatment of patients with post-stroke Broca aphasia.Methods Sixty-six patients suffering from post-stroke Broca aphasia were divided randomly into two groups to receive routine drugs treatment(drugs treatment group)or routine drugs plus electrical stimulation(complex therapy group).The western aphasia battery was used to assess the patient's aphasia quotient(AQ),and Boston Diagnostic Aphasia Examination was also conducted to assess the severity of aphasia.Duration of treatment was 30 days.Results There was no significant difference in AQ scores between two groups before treatment.AQ scores were improved significantly in both groups after therapy.Compared with drugs treatment group(59.7±25.5),AQ scores was much better in complex therapy group(72.5±24.1)(P0.05).Total effective rate of complex therapy group(81.0%)was obviously higher than those of drugs treatment group after treatment(55.1%)(P0.05).Conclusion Electrical stimulation cerebellum combined with routine drugs treatment could significantly improve language function in the patients with post-stroke Broca aphasia,the mechanisms may presume that electrical stimulation cerebellum could active cerebellum-cerebrum pathway,this pathway could regulate language on neural network to promote patients' language function repair.