Donepezil in Chronic Poststroke Aphasia: a Randomized Controlled Trial

* Aphasia (impairment of language function due to brain damage)may be treated with speech-language therapy and drugs. Several drugs have been studied but with limited success. * Recent data suggest that the neurotransmitter acetylcholine may be reduced in brain damaged subjects and that drugs that stimulates acetylcholine activity may help recovery of aphasic deficits particularly when paired with speech-language therapy. * Recent evidence indicates that medicaments acting on the neurotransmitter acetylcholine may promote improvement of aphasic deficits and our previous open-label study of donepezil in post-stroke aphasia showed benefits in all patients and observed benefit were long-lasting (6 months).This study will test the safety and efficacy of donepezil (an agent acting on acetylcholine)in subjects with stroke-related chronic aphasia (more than 1 yr of evolution).