Digital Twin Model of Treatment Outcomes in Post-Stroke Aphasia
This study demonstrate the feasibility and clinical potential of applying a digital twin framework to chronic post-stroke aphasia, with the model successfully predicting more than half the variance in naming performance during language treatment. Through counterfactual simulation, we demonstrated that modifiable health factors exert measurable, bidirectional influences on predicted treatment outcomes, underscoring the role of systemic health in shaping language recovery. Although the individual effects of these factors were modest in magnitude, their cumulative influence on treatment gains illustrates how multiple small biological contributors can add up to shape meaningful differences in language outcomes. More broadly, these findings illustrate the potential value of digital twin models for aphasia treatment, particularly as a tool to integrate diverse biological factors and generate individualized, dynamically updated predictions.
Authors
- Eleanor N. Jeakle (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-8714-3517)
- Natalie Busby (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7117-7899)
- Sigfus Kristinsson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0459-5369)
- J F Fridriksson
- Chris Rorden
- Nicholas Riccardi
- Roger Newman-Norlund
- Leonardo Bonilha
Institutions
- Medical University of South Carolina (US)
- University of South Carolina (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- medRxiv
- Published
- 2026-02-04
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.02.03.26345022
- Primary Topic
- Neurobiology of Language and Bilingualism
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders