Clinical Application of Loewenstein Occupational Therapy Cognitive Assessment Battery-Second Edition in Evaluating of Cognitive Function of Chinese Patients with Post-stroke Aphasia

Objective To investigate the clinical application value of Loewenstein Occupational Therapy Cognitive Assessment(LOTCA)battery in Chinese patients with post-stroke aphasia.Methods Cognitive functions of 59 Chinese patients with aphasia following a stroke were assessed with the Chinese version of the second edition of LOTCA battery and their linguistic functions were tested with the Western Aphasia Battery(WAB)Scale,respectively.The results of LOTCA were analyzed and compared across different groups,in the light of gender,age,educational background,the length of illness,and the degree of aphasia.Results Neither the score of subtests of the LOTCA nor the overall scores of LOTCA of aphasia patients with different gender and educational background differed(all P>0.05).In different age groups,apart from thinking operation(F=3.373,P=0.016),visuomotor organization(F=3.124,P=0.022),attention(F=3.729,P=0.009)and the total score(F=2.683,P=0.041),there was no difference in terms of the other subtest scores of LOTCA(all P>0.05).In the groups of different length of time with illness,apart from orientation(F=2.982,P=0.039)and attention(F=3.485,P=0.022),the score of other subtests and the total score of LOTCA were not different(all P>0.05).In the groups of different degree of aphasia,apart from attention(F=2.061,P=0.074),both the score of other subtests and the total score of LOTCA differed(all P<0.05).Conclusion LOTCA might be suitable to assessing the cognitive ability of post-stroke Chinese patients with aphasia.

Study on Language Rehabilitation for Aphasia

Objective： The aim is to update our clinical recommendations on a systematic review of the literature from 1999 to 2015. for evidence-based language rehabilitation of people with aphasia, based Data Sources： Articles referred to in this systematic review of the Medline and PubMed published in English language literatures were from 1998 to 2015. The terms used in the literature searches were aphasia and evidenced-based. Study Selection： The task force initially identified citations for 51 published articles. Of the 51 articles, 44 studies were selected after further detailed review. Six articles, which were not written in English, and one study related to laryngectomy rehabilitation interventions, were excluded from the study. This study referred to all the important and English literature in full. Results： Aphasia is the linguistic disability, which usually results from injuries to the dominant hemisphere of the brain. The rehabilitation of aphasia is until in the process of being debated and researched. Evidence-based medicine （EBM）, EBM based on the clinical evidence, promotes the practice of combining the clinicians＇ first-hand experience and the existing objective and scientific evidence encouraging making decisions based on both empirical evidence and the scientific evidence. Currently, EBM is being gradually implemented in the clinical practice as the aim of the development of modem medicine. Conclusions： At present, the research for the aphasia rehabilitation mainly focuses on the cognitive language rehabilitation and the intensive treatment and the precise treatment, etc. There is now sufficient information to support evidence-based protocols and implement empirically-supported treatments for linguistic disability after traumatic brain injury and stroke, which can be used to develop linguistic rehabilitation guidelines for patients with aphasia.