Adjunctive Approaches to Aphasia Rehabilitation: A Review on Efficacy and Safety

Aphasia is one of the most socially disabling post-stroke deficits. Although traditional therapies have been shown to induce adequate clinical improvement, aphasic symptoms often persist. Therefore, unconventional rehabilitation techniques which act as a substitute or an adjunct approaches are urgently needed. The present review provides overview efficacy and safety principal proposed over last twenty years. First, we examined effectiveness pharmacological approach, principally used language therapy, reporting mechanism action each single drug for recovery aphasia. Results conflicting but promising. Secondly, discussed application Virtual Reality (VR) has proven be useful since it potentiates ecological validity therapy by using virtual contexts simulate real-life everyday contexts. Finally, focused on use Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS), both discussing its applications at cortical level highlighting new perspective, considers possibility extend tDCS motor regions. reveals extraordinary variability among different studies, substantial agreement reached some general principles, such necessity consider only therapy.