Recovery of Speech Functions in Patients with Poststroke Aphasia Depending on the Severity of Atherosclerotic Lesions of the Cerebral Arteries

Objective. To study the effects of stenosing lesions of the carotid arteries on recovery of aphatic impairments during the acute period of stroke. Materials and methods. The case histories of 253 patients (median age 58 [52; 63] years) with acute left-hemisphere ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke including motor or sensorimotor aphasia were analyzed. The severity of atherosclerotic lesions to the brachiocephalic arteries was evaluated by color duplex scanning, whose results were used to divide patients into three groups: group 1, without stenosis of the extracranial arteries; group 2, with carotid artery stenosis of <50% of the vessel lumen; and group 3, with >50% stenosis of the carotid arteries. Results. The presence of stenosing lesions of the extracranial arteries in patients with aphasia narrowing the vessel lumen by more than 50% (group 3) significantly (p = 0.0001) degraded prognoses for recovery of speech functions, while stenosis of less than 50% (groups 1 and 2) had no significant influence on the prognosis for speech rehabilitation. Conclusions. Severe atherosclerosis of the carotid arteries had adverse influences on the dynamics of speech recovery in patients during the acute period of stroke.

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