Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation in the Treatment of Subacute Post-Stroke Thalamic Aphasia

Background: Although many studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) in improving speech recovery in post-stroke aphasia, as far as we know patients affected by thalamic aphasia have never been investigated.Patient and method: A 65-year-old man with severe non-fluent aphasia due to a left thalamic haemorrhagic stroke underwent intensive daily speech therapy combined with tDCS.Results: The patient showed progressive improvement with almost complete recovery of his speech disorder, behavioural disinhibition and apathy.Conclusions: Our findings suggest that tDCS with concurrent speech therapy can be useful in patients with subcortical stroke lesions.LEARNING POINTS: The thalamus has a central role in the development of the higher functions, such as memory, regulation of behaviour and emotions, and language elaboration.Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) applied to the cerebral cortex is a promising tool for improving language recovery in patients with post-stroke aphasia.Combined treatment with tDCS and speech and language therapy (SLT) was effective in a patient with subacute thalamic aphasia, who showed improvement in all aspects of linguistic and behavioural communication.