Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38688718›Full record

Trial reporteNeuro2024

Structural Neuroplasticity Effects of Singing in Chronic Aphasia.

Aleksi J Sihvonen, Anni Pitkäniemi, Sini-Tuuli Siponkoski, Linda Kuusela, Noelia Martínez-Molina, Sari Laitinen, Essi-Reetta Särkämö, Johanna Pekkola, Susanna Melkas, Gottfried Schlaug and 2 more

Abstract readRandomized Controlled Trial
In one paragraph

Trial report in eNeuro, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
7citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

7 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Trial
  3. Trial
  4. Article
  5. Review
  6. Article
  7. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

12 authors.

Aleksi J SihvonenCognitive Brain Research Unit and Centre of Excellence in Music, Mind, Body and Brain, Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki 00014, Finland aleksi.sihvonen@helsinki.fi.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4501-7338
Anni PitkäniemiCognitive Brain Research Unit and Centre of Excellence in Music, Mind, Body and Brain, Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki 00014, Finland.
Sini-Tuuli SiponkoskiCognitive Brain Research Unit and Centre of Excellence in Music, Mind, Body and Brain, Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki 00014, Finland.
Linda KuuselaHUS Helsinki Medical Imaging Center, Helsinki University Hospital, Helsinki 00029, Finland.
Noelia Martínez-MolinaCognitive Brain Research Unit and Centre of Excellence in Music, Mind, Body and Brain, Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki 00014, Finland.
Sari LaitinenEspoo Hospital, Espoo 00029, Finland.
Essi-Reetta SärkämöPrivate Choir Conductor, Vantaa 01520, Finland.
Johanna PekkolaHUS Helsinki Medical Imaging Center, Helsinki University Hospital, Helsinki 00029, Finland.
Susanna MelkasDepartment of Neurology, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital, Helsinki 00029, Finland.
Gottfried SchlaugDepartment of Neurology, UMass Medical School, Springfield, Massachusetts 01655.
Viljami SairanenHUS Helsinki Medical Imaging Center, Helsinki University Hospital, Helsinki 00029, Finland.
Teppo SärkämöCognitive Brain Research Unit and Centre of Excellence in Music, Mind, Body and Brain, Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki 00014, Finland.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1470-4530

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Singing-based treatments of aphasia can improve language outcomes, but the neural benefits of group-based singing in aphasia are unknown. Here, we set out to determine the structural neuroplasticity changes underpinning group-based singing-induced treatment effects in chronic aphasia. Twenty-eight patients with at least mild nonfluent poststroke aphasia were randomized into two groups that received a 4-month multicomponent singing intervention (singing group) or standard care (control group). High-resolution T1 images and multishell diffusion-weighted MRI data were collected in two time points (baseline/5 months). Structural gray matter (GM) and white matter (WM) neuroplasticity changes were assessed using language network region of interest-based voxel-based morphometry (VBM) and quantitative anisotropy-based connectometry, and their associations to improved language outcomes (Western Aphasia Battery Naming and Repetition) were evaluated. Connectometry analyses showed that the singing group enhanced structural WM connectivity in the left arcuate fasciculus (AF) and corpus callosum as well as in the frontal aslant tract (FAT), superior longitudinal fasciculus, and corticostriatal tract bilaterally compared with the control group. Moreover, in VBM, the singing group showed GM volume increase in the left inferior frontal cortex (Brodmann area 44) compared with the control group. The neuroplasticity effects in the left BA44, AF, and FAT correlated with improved naming abilities after the intervention. These findings suggest that in the poststroke aphasia group, singing can bring about structural neuroplasticity changes in left frontal language areas and in bilateral language pathways, which underpin treatment-induced improvement in speech production.

Indexed as

AphasiaNeuronal PlasticitySingingAgedBrainChronic DiseaseFemaleGray MatterHumansMagnetic Resonance ImagingMaleMiddle AgedStrokeTreatment OutcomeWhite Matteraphasiamusicrehabilitationsingingstrokestructural connectivity

Identifiers

PMID38688718
PMCPMC11091951

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.