Objective To investigate the factors associated with the type of aphasia after stroke and the types
of post-stroke aphasia.
Methods A retrospective analysis of clinical data of patients with post-stroke aphasia who received
Western Aphasia Battery (WAB) test from Beijing Tiantan Hospital between January 2004 and
February 2018 was performed. The relationship between aphasia type and gender, age, stroke type,stroke etiology and pathogenesis was analyzed.
Results A total of 681 patients with post-stroke aphasia were included, including 185 patients with
global aphasia (GA), 148 patients with Broca's aphasia (BA), 30 patients with mixed transcortical
aphasia (MTCA), 67 patients with transcortical motor aphasia (TCMA), 69 patients with Wernicke's
aphasia (WA), 21 patients with transcortical sensory aphasia (TCSA), 32 patients with conductive
aphasia (CA), and 129 patients with anomic aphasia (NA). The subjects were divided into youth group
(18-44 years), middle-aged group (45-59 years), and elderly group (≥60 years). The types of aphasia
among three groups had no statistical difference after adjusting for confounding factors, so did that
between men and women. Different type of aphasia had heterogeneity in lesion location, except for
the classical language areas, the left basal ganglia and thalamus were often damaged. Among patients
with aphasia caused by cerebral hemorrhage, the most common cause of cerebral hemorrhage was
hypertension (77.8%-100.0%). For GA patients, the most common pathogenesis of stroke was mixed
(42.4%) and artery-to-artery embolization (27.3%), while artery-to-artery embolization was the most
common in BA, WA and CA patients (51.5%, 71.4% and 40.0%, respectively), and hypoperfusion/
impaired emboli clearance were the most common in TCMA, TCSA, and NA patients (65.9%, 58.3%,
and 38.4%, respectively).
Conclusions Age and gender were not associated with the type of aphasia. The most common
types in post-stroke aphasia patients were GA, BA and NA. The lesion location was associated with
the type of aphasia. The influence of the etiology and pathogenesis of stroke on the type of aphasia
may be related to specific culprit vessels and the corresponding affected territory.
