REPETITIVE TMS TO IMPROVE SPEECH IN APHASIA

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This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. The number of people with aphasia in the US today is estimated to be 1 million with 80,000 new cases each year. New therapeutic treatments are needed, especially in light of increases in the age of the US population. The purpose of this study is to investigator whether repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) can be used to improve speech in chronic stroke patients with nonfluent aphasia. Previous work using fMRI has identified excess blood flow (presumed abnormal increase in cortical excitability) in certain areas of the right hemisphere in individuals with nonfluent speech. It is hypothesized that ten sessions of real rTMS at 1 Hz given over a two week period to the right motor cortex or other right hemisphere regions of interest specific for that aphasia patient, will significantly improve ability to name pictures and significantly improve propositional speech. Sham rTMS to the same regions of interest is hypothesized to have no effect. In addition to enrolling subjects with aphasia, a group of normal controls will also be enrolled in this study.