The role of the right hemisphere in the recovery of stroke-related aphasia: A systematic review

- The right hemisphere contributes to early spontaneous language recovery in aphasia.
- The right hemisphere facilitates treatment-related recovery of language.
- In chronic aphasia right hemisphere activity may inhibit further recovery.

Stroke in the language dominant hemisphere is the most frequent cause of aphasia. In the course of post-stroke aphasia different mechanisms can contribute to the recovery of language: recovery from ischemia, compensatory rerouting of language modalities and neuroplasticity occur at different time scales after the initial injury. These mechanisms may occur spontaneously or may be induced or influenced by various therapeutic interventions. This report contains a systematic review of the literature concerning the debated role of the right hemisphere in the recovery from stroke-related aphasia. The existing literature was approached using the PICOS principle and well-established inclusion and exclusion criteria. Although many gaps remain in the knowledge on the role of the right hemisphere, there is some evidence of a facilitation of spontaneous language recovery in the acute and subacute phase. In the subacute and chronic phase, the right hemisphere homologous language areas, along with memory and attention-related areas, facilitate treatment related improvement. In contrast, in therapy-free periods in the chronic stage, the right hemisphere no longer contributes to language recovery or may even be inhibitory. Injury-, language- and therapy-related variables impact on the role of the right hemisphere in aphasia recovery.