Exploring how brain aging influences language issues after stroke

After a stroke, even areas of the brain not directly affected by the injury can show signs of accelerated aging. Stroke can also lead to aphasia, a language disorder that varies widely in severity and treatment outlook. In a new study in JNeurosci, Nicholas Riccardi, Leonardo Bonilha and colleagues at the University of South Carolina Floyd School of Medicine examined how aging in uninjured areas of the brain relates to aphasia severity and recovery after treatment.

The researchers used an online system trained on large human brain aging datasets to measure how each person’s brain structure deviated from typical aging in people who had not had a stroke. In 188 people who had experienced a stroke, aging differences on the side of the brain not directly injured by the stroke helped explain aphasia severity independently of the size or location of the injury. Among patients who completed speech therapy paired with noninvasive brain stimulation, brain aging patterns measured before treatment predicted improvements in language six months after therapy ended.

According to the researchers, the work provides a framework for linking normal aging models with poststroke severity and treatment success, which may help inform more precise brain rehabilitation strategies. Riccardi added, “This work suggests that recovery potential after stroke depends on the health of the rest of the brain, which is partly shaped by treatable factors like cardiovascular health. Second, because everything here came from a single routine scan and a free online tool, this could realistically reach a variety of clinical or research settings one day.”

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Robert Egan

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