Recovery from ideomotor apraxia. A study on acute stroke patients

In this study we investigated whether there are predictors for recovery from ideomotor apraxia (IMA) in patients with focal left hemisphere vascular lesions. Recovery was followed in 26 patients, first examined between 15 and 30 days postonset. They were apraxic at the first examination and had a second (and in some cases, a third) neuropsychological assessment after some months. Six patients with bilateral lesions were also studied to help to define the role of the right hemisphere in recovery from IMA. Other neuropsychological variables (Token Test, Progressive Matrices and Oral Apraxia scores) and site and size of the lesion were also determined. The main results are that (1) improvement from IMA is related to the site of the lesion (anterior lesions faring better); (2) the evolution of IMA is related more to the evolution of oral apraxia than to the evolution of other neuropsychological variables; and (3) the presence of a second lesion in the right hemisphere did not have the negative influence on recovery that might have been expected.