Prognostic Value of EEG in Acute Vascular Aphasia: A Long Term Clinical-EEG Study of 53 Patients

Abstract

A group of 53 patients rendered acutely aphasic by occlusive cerebrovascular disease were studied by serial EEG's, repeated neurologic examinations and speech evaluations (Porch Index of Communicative Ability) over a period of eight to twenty-four months, in order to correlate EEG findings with the degree of language disorder and prognosis for language recovery. Normal and mildly abnormal EEG's, posterior slow foci, focal slowing of semirhythmic type and higher alpha frequencies over the intact hemisphere correlated with good language recovery. In the majority of the patients, the curves of "EEG Improvement" and "Language Recovery" closely paralleled each other. These data indicate that the EEG is of prognostic value as to recovery from aphasia in patients suffering from acute occlusive cerebrovascular disease. Despite the advent of newer diagnostic tests, such as CAT scan, which has established its value in evaluation of the anatomy of aphasia, (9) EEG remains to be useful as a tool that could predict the outcome of aphasia in stroke patients.