Objective To investigate the
effectiveness of
donepezil in the
treatment of early post-
stroke aphasia (PSA).
Methods PSA
patients within one month after onset were randomly assigned into either a
donepezil group or a
control group.On the basis of conventional medication,the
donepezil group was given hydrochloride
donepezil 5 mg/d.The
patients were followed-up after 4 week.The
efficacy was evaluated by the
Aphasia Battery of
Chinese (ABC),the National Institute of
Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS),the
Stroke Aphasic
Depression Questionnaire (SADQ),
Chinese version,and the
Treatment Emergent Symptom Scale (TESS) before and
after treatment.Results A total of 48 PSA
patients were enrolled in the study.Both the
donepezil group and the
control group had 24
patients and they all completed the study.There were no significant differences in age,years of
education,NIHSS score,SADQ score,
stroke duration,as well as the proportions of
male,
hypertension,diabetes,
hyperlipidemia,
heart disease,previous
stroke or
history of
transient ischemic attack,
smoking alcohol consumption,type of
stroke,and lesion site (all P < 0.01).There were significant differences in each
language score before and
after treatment both in the
donepezil group and in the
control group (all P <0.01).The difference values of listening
comprehension (47.8 ± 24.7 vs.22.0 ± 15.4; t =4.342,P =0.000)and
reading comprehension (20.5 ± 14.0 vs.8.1 ± 10.5; t =3.483,P <0.01) scores before and
after treatment in the
donepezil group were significantly higher than those in the
control group,while there were no significant differences in the information quantity of
speech,fluency,series
language,repetition,naming,and
reading scores (all P >0.05).As compared with the
control group,there were significant differences in the difference values of the SADQ scores before and
after treatment in the
donepezil group (6.2 ±6.0 vs.2.5 ±3.0; t =2.717,P=0.009).No serious adverse reactions were observed in both groups.Conclusions On the basis of conventional
stroke treatment,using hydrochloride
donepezil in the early PSA
patients has promotion effect on the improvement of listening
comprehension and
reading comprehension of
language function.