Newman-Norlund Roger D, Gibson Makayla, Johnson Lisa, Teghipco Alex, Rorden Chris, Bonilha Leonardo, Fridriksson Julius
Department of Psychology, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA.
Department of Communication Sciences, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA.
Neurobiol Lang (Camb). 2024 Aug 15;5(3):722-735. doi: 10.1162/nol_a_00120. eCollection 2024.
Chronic stroke results in significant downstream changes at connected cortical sites. However, less is known about the impact of cortical stroke on cerebellar structure. Here, we examined the relationship between chronic stroke, cerebellar volume, cerebellar symmetry, language impairment, and treatment trajectories in a large cohort ( = 249) of chronic left hemisphere (LH) stroke patients with aphasia, using a healthy aging cohort ( = 244) as control data. Cerebellar gray matter volume was significantly reduced in chronic LH stroke relative to healthy control brains. Within the chronic LH stroke group, we observed a robust relationship between cerebellar volume, lesion size, and days post-stroke. Notably, the extent of cerebellar atrophy in chronic LH patients, particularly in the contralesional (right) cerebellar gray matter, explained significant variability in post-stroke aphasia severity, as measured by the Western Aphasia Battery-Revised, above and beyond traditional considerations such as cortical lesion size, days post-stroke, and demographic measures (age, race, sex). In a subset of participants that took part in language treatment studies, greater cerebellar gray matter volume was associated with greater treatment gains. These data support the importance of considering both cerebellar volume and symmetry in models of post-stroke aphasia severity and recovery.
慢性中风会在相连的皮质部位引发显著的下游变化。然而，关于皮质中风对小脑结构的影响，我们了解得较少。在此，我们在一个大型队列（n = 249）的慢性左半球（LH）中风失语患者中，研究了慢性中风、小脑体积、小脑对称性、语言障碍和治疗轨迹之间的关系，并使用一个健康老龄化队列（n = 244）作为对照数据。与健康对照大脑相比，慢性LH中风患者的小脑灰质体积显著减少。在慢性LH中风组中，我们观察到小脑体积、病灶大小和中风后天数之间存在密切关系。值得注意的是，慢性LH患者的小脑萎缩程度，尤其是对侧（右侧）小脑灰质的萎缩程度，在传统因素（如皮质病灶大小、中风后天数和人口统计学指标（年龄、种族、性别））之外，通过修订后的西方失语症量表测量，解释了中风后失语严重程度的显著变异性。在参与语言治疗研究的一部分参与者中，更大的小脑灰质体积与更大的治疗效果相关。这些数据支持在中风后失语严重程度和恢复模型中考虑小脑体积和对称性的重要性。
