Donepezil in Chronic Poststroke Aphasia: a Randomized Controlled Trial
Status:
Completed
Trial end date:
2005-03-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
- Aphasia (impairment of language function due to brain damage)may be treated with
speech-language therapy and drugs. Several drugs have been studied but with limited
success.
- Recent data suggest that the neurotransmitter acetylcholine may be reduced in brain
damaged subjects and that drugs that stimulates acetylcholine activity may help recovery
of aphasic deficits particularly when paired with speech-language therapy.
- Recent evidence indicates that medicaments acting on the neurotransmitter acetylcholine
may promote improvement of aphasic deficits and our previous open-label study of
donepezil in post-stroke aphasia showed benefits in all patients and observed benefit
were long-lasting (6 months).This study will test the safety and efficacy of donepezil
(an agent acting on acetylcholine)in subjects with stroke-related chronic aphasia (more
than 1 yr of evolution).