Memantine and Constraint-Induced Language Therapy in Chronic Poststroke Aphasia:A Randomized Controlled Trial

• Status: Unknown status
• Trial end date: 2005-09-01
• Target enrollment: 0
• Participant gender: All

Summary

• Aphasia, the loss or impairment of language caused by brain damage, is one of the most devastating cognitive impairments of stroke. Aphasia can be treated with combination of speech-language therapy and drugs. Conventional speech-language therapy in chronic aphasic subjects is of little help and several drugs have been studied with limited success. Therefore other therapeutic strategies are warranted.

• Recent data suggest that drugs (memantine) acting on the brain chemical glutamate may help the recovery of cognitive deficits, included language, in subjects with vascular dementia. The present study examines the safety profile and efficacy of memantine paired with intensive language therapy in subjects with stroke-related chronic aphasia (more than 1 yr. of evolution).

• Phase: Phase 4
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers?: No

Details

• Lead Sponsor: Gabinete Berthier y Martínez
• Collaborator: H. Lundbeck A/S
• Treatments: Memantine

Criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

• Chronic aphasia of more than one year duration

• Must be able to complete protocol

Exclusion Criteria:

• Dementia

• Major psychiatric illness

• Severe global aphasia (precludes participation in constraint-induced language therapy)