Eficacia del tratamiento para la afasia de Wernicke en pacientes con sintomatología grave

Abstract

IntroductionAphasia is a language disorder which causes, in most cases, an inability to communicate, which implies a handicap not only for the patient but also for the family environment. Patient rehabilitation is considered vital to redress this communicative dysfunction. Conventional speech therapy is useful, but for cases of aphasia with severe disturbances it is too slow. To solve this problem, in the field of the Wernicke's aphasia was developed the Treatment for the Wernicke's aphasia (TWA), which it is showed effective in a specific set of candidates. ObjectiveTo assess TWA in Wernicke's aphasia patients who had severe symptoms, although they were not candidates for the original conventional treatment. Method12 sessions of TWA were performed with a Wernicke's patient, and pre- and post-treatment results of the patient were compared with a group of Wernicke's patients (one with the same etiology and location) and with a group of transcortical sensory aphasia's patients (Wernicke aphasia typeii). ResultsThe results show, in almost all the analyzed verbal areas, a greater improvement in the patient who completed the TWA compared to patients who followed conventional speech therapy. ConclusionsFrom the results obtained in this study it can be concluded that the TWA is an useful therapeutic treatment for all classes of patients with Wernicke's aphasia, and not just for the candidates in initial rehabilitation.