A clinical study of the combined use of bromocriptine and speech and language therapy in the treatment of a person with aphasia

Background: Bromocriptine has been used in previous studies to treat people with non-fluent aphasia with varying levels of success. Aims: This single case study set out to describe the effect of a 30 mg dose of bromocriptine on the behaviour, cognition and linguistic skills of a person with aphasia post-cerebrovascular accident. Methods & Procedures: The participant received speech and language therapy alone and combined with the drug. Four testing points were made to examine the effects of bromocriptine: (1) at baseline before the drug was administered, (2) once the drug reached 30 mg dosage, (3) after the combined speech and language therapy and drug regime and (4) after drug and therapy withdrawal. Outcomes & Results: The participant responded on all behavioural measures to the use of bromocriptine. The combined use of speech and language therapy with bromocriptine provided clear improvements in the participant?s overall behaviours and specifically in her verbal output. Conclusions: There is a case for the careful and correct selection of participants to use bromocriptine in combination with speech and language therapy. People who are adynamic, have non-fluent Broca?s type or transcortical motor type aphasia may benefit from this combined treatment. Keywords : bromocriptine, language, therapy, aphasia, combined, cognition