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t m c » p u l s e | j u n e 2 0 1 6 22 Something to Talk About A new grant study aims to explore how words are formed after stroke-related speech impairment B y C h r i s t i n e H a l l E veryone at one time or another has forgotten the name of that one guy they used to work with, or the restau- rant that had that one chocolate dessert they loved. Now imagine not knowing the word at all, or not being able to physically say it. That is similar to what happens to patients after experiencing some kind of brain trauma, whether through stroke, a car accident, a neurological disorder or a fall during which the person hits his or her head. on language in their brain," Tandon explained. "Half of those cannot speak well as a result, and nothing can be done right now." Epilepsy is similarly devastating to those affected, taking away a person's independence and making it difficult to do things like have a job, he added. Those affected by this neurological disorder also often have difficulty remembering names of things and people, like what happens following a traumatic brain injury. Many of these patients with epilepsy are candidates for surgical procedures that target the area where the seizures originate. "We aim to help them be seizure free, for them to live a normal life, be able to get married and have children," Tandon said. Recently, Tandon and his group were awarded a $1.8 million National Institutes of Health grant to explore new treatments for people who have speech problems following a stroke, traumatic brain injury or other neuro- logical disorder. Tandon's team includes Joshua Breier, Ph.D., of UTHealth; Greg Hickok, Ph.D., of the University of California, Irvine; Robert Knight, M.D., of the University of California, Berkeley; and Xaq Pitkow, Ph.D., of Rice University. They will be conducting a series of experiments over the course of five years on about 80 patients that will look at word production by people whose brain waves will be monitored through the use of intracranial electroencepha- lographic (icEEG) recordings. Unlike being able to move or see, which are hardwired into brains the It is also something a group of neu- roscientists, led by Nitin Tandon, M.D., the director of the epilepsy surgery pro- gram at Memorial Hermann Mischer Neuroscience Institute at the Texas Medical Center and associate profes- sor in the Vivian L. Smith Department of Neurosurgery at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) McGovern Medical School, will examine. "More than half a million peo- ple have had the effect of a stroke These areas are hardwired, so when there is an injury, there isn't another part of the brain that can do this, so that's why people end up with a speech deficit. — NITIN TANDON, M.D. Director of the Epilepsy Surgery Program at Memorial Hermann, and Associate Professor in the Vivian L. Smith Department of Neurosurgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth The ROSA robotic device enables Nitin Tandon, M.D., to pinpoint where he will implant electrodes into a patient's head to figure out where epileptic seizures originate.