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Cerebrovascular events affecting speech can be devastating and can affect quality of life significantly. About 20% of patients with hemispheric stroke experience aphasia that lasts beyond 1 year. Speech and language therapy (SLT) is the standard of care for patients with aphasia but has limited effectiveness. In this multicenter, randomized, controlled trial, investigators tested the effect of right C7 neurotomy at the intervertebral foramen — previously used to treat spastic arm paralysis after stroke — plus intensive speech and language therapy in 50 adults with aphasia for >12 months after left-hemisphere stroke. They randomized patients to receive either C7 neurotomy plus 3 weeks of intensive SLT or 3 weeks of intensive SLT only. The pr…