Contralesional brain age predicts stroke aphasia recovery
In 188 individuals with chronic stroke, regional deviations from expected brain aging in intact tissue tracked aphasia severity and predicted therapy gains six months later.
The Journal of Neuroscience
In 188 adults with chronic stroke (67 female and 121 male), regional deviations from normative brain aging in the undamaged hemisphere explained language impairment severity. Researchers applied a standardized brain age model to routine T1-weighted structural MRI scans to quantify how intact brain regions diverged from typical lifespan aging trajectories. These contralesional aging deviations accounted for aphasia severity beyond traditional measures, including lesion volume, lesion location, and demographic factors. In a treated subgroup, baseline brain aging patterns also predicted language gains that persisted six months after therapy, indicating that uninjured tissue health shapes long-term recovery.
Why it matters
The findings demonstrate that biological aging trajectories in structurally intact brain tissue directly influence recovery capacity and functional resilience following brain injury.
Caveats
The study was observational, and the abstract does not report the sample size, specific treatment types, or demographic breakdown of the treated subgroup.
The paper
University of South Carolina · Columbia College - South Carolina
The Journal of Neuroscience · 28 Sep 2026