Cerebellar Atrophy and Language Processing in Chronic Left-Hemisphere Stroke

Abstract Chronic stroke results in significant downstream changes at connected cortical sites. However, less is known about the impact of on cerebellar structure. Here, we examined relationship between chronic stroke, volume, symmetry, language impairment, and treatment trajectories a large cohort (N = 249) left hemisphere (LH) patients with aphasia, using healthy aging 244) as control data. Cerebellar gray matter volume was significantly reduced LH relative to brains. Within group, observed robust lesion size, days post-stroke. Notably, extent atrophy patients, particularly contralesional (right) matter, explained variability post-stroke aphasia severity, measured by Western Aphasia Battery–Revised (WAB-R), above beyond traditional considerations such post demographic measures (age, race, sex). In subset participants that took part studies, greater associated gains. These data support importance considering both symmetry models severity recovery.