Can adding transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to speech and language therapy improve outcomes for adults with aphasia after stroke?

Abstract

Clinical Answer:Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) may improve the ability of adults with aphasia after stroke to name objects ("naming nouns") but does not appear to improve their functional communication or ability to name actions ("naming verbs").For adults with aphasia after stroke, tDCS compared with sham tDCS did not appear to improve functional communication in the immediate postintervention period (low‐certainty evidence) nor at six months of follow‐up (very low‐certainty evidence). Although tDCS probably leads to moderate improvement in the accuracy of naming nouns post intervention and may have a large effect at six months (moderate‐ and low‐certainty evidence, respectively), effects on the accuracy of naming verbs are uncertain. Low‐certainty evidence suggests no clear difference in withdrawals between tDCS and sham tDCS groups (17 vs 31 per 1000 people).