Can combination therapy of conventional and oriental medicine improve poststroke aphasia? Comparative, observational, pragmatic study

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to determine the effectiveness of oriental medicine therapy on poststroke aphasia. The outcome was measured as the delta value of the Aphasic Quotient score. Patients completed test at two timepoints: baseline and discharge time. Patients who received conventional therapy and language therapy were grouped in the Only Language Therapy group. Patients who received conventional therapy, language therapy, and an Oriental medicine regimen were grouped in the Combined oriental Medicine Therapy group. We compared the delta value of the Aphasic Quotient score between two groups. The Combined Oriental Medicine group exhibited a greater improvement than the Only Language Therapy group in the total Aphasic Quotient score and most subsection scores. In particular, there were statistically significant differences in total Aphasic Quotient score and subsections such as spontaneous speech, content delivery, comprehension, auditory verbal comprehension, and command performance. Among severe aphasic patients, the improvement of the Combined oriental Medicine group was better than that of the Only Language Therapy group. Through this study, we suggest combination therapy with the administration of oriental medicine and language therapy can be helpful in the treatment of post-stroke aphasic patients.

Figure 1

Study protocol.

Figure 2

Change of distribution of aphasia severity. COT: group that received language therapy with oriental medicine therapy, OLT: group that received language therapy only, non-Severe: Aphasia Quotient 36.3–92.2, Severe: Aphasia Quotient 0–36.2, P value was obtained by the McNemar test for evaluating significance of change of distribution of severe aphasia in each group.