Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine 7 16 31 Before P value < 0.001 Nonsevere aphasia (COT) Severe aphasia (COT) 28 After 18 7 23 Before P value = 0.031 Nonsevere aphasia (OLT) Severe aphasia (OLT) 13 17 After Figure 2: Change of distribution of aphasia severity. COT: group that received language therapy with oriental medicine therapy, OLT: group that received language therapy only, non-Severe: Aphasia Quotient 36.3–92.2, Severe: Aphasia Quotient 0–36.2, P value was obtained by the McNemar test for evaluating signiﬁcance of change of distribution of severe aphasia in each group. Table 7: AQ (Aphasia Quotient) test subsection. Spontaneous speech Content delivery Fluency Comprehension Yes-no Auditory verbal comprehension Command performance Repetition Naming Naming things Control word association Sentence completion Sentence answer Total AQ score = spontaneous speech + comprehension + repetition + naming. intense language therapy exhibited a greater improvement than patients who did not receive language therapy [19, 20]. The American BI-ISIG (Brain Injury Interdisciplinary- Speciﬁc Interest Group) classiﬁed language therapy as a practice standard and an essential item for post-stroke aphasic patients [21]. Therefore, most patients who suﬀer from post-stroke aphasia usually receive language therapy during their rehabilitation. In addition to language therapy, the treatment of patients with aphasia may include pharmacological intervention. Bromocriptine, amphetamines, and piracetam are some- times used for post-stroke aphasia treatment [9, 10]. The eﬃcacy of these medications has been demonstrated in previous studies. However, it is still controversial whether the improvement of aphasia in patients treated with bromocrip- tine and amphetamines is caused by an improvement of the aphasia itself or an improvement in their attention. Furthermore, the routine prescription of amphetamines should be avoided because of its potential negative eﬀects on the central nervous system and addiction [22]. Pirac- etam has been associated with exacerbation of intracerebral hemorrhage and eﬀects on the central nervous system [23]. Therefore, pharmacological interventions have not been used routinely in aphasic patients. In this respect, safe and eﬀective treatments that can be administered in association with language therapy are needed for the treatment of patients with aphasia. According to previous studies, oriental medicine is an eﬀective therapy for the treatment of the eﬀects of stroke [24– 26]. However, the aim of these studies was to evaluate the eﬀects of oriental medicine on the general sequelae of stroke, in particular, motor function disorders. Studies focusing on aphasia were not comparative, but rather case reports or case series [11–17]. The present study was therefore designed to evaluate the eﬀect of the co-administration of oriental medicine with language therapy using a comparative method. In addition, the present study assessed the individualized nature of oriental medicine. When Oriental medicine doc- tors use oriental medicine therapy to treat stroke patients, they adjust the treatment regimen according to each patient’s individual needs, general condition, and constitution such as oriental diagnosis. Patients admitted to Oriental medicine hospitals may receive diﬀerent types of treatment. Therefore, in this study, we used a pragmatic method to investigate the eﬀects of oriental medicine therapy itself on post- stroke aphasia recovery. For example, oriental medicine doc- tors prescribed Hyungbangjihwang-tang, when patients were diagnosed with Yin deﬁciency. The present study has following limits. First, because of the study design (non-randomized case-control study), the numbers of participants in each group were not the same. However, there were no signiﬁcant diﬀerences between the two groups in terms of baseline characteristics, type of stroke, type of aphasia, stroke risk factors, and related symptoms. Second, the duration of followup was not the same for all patients. However, there were no signiﬁcant diﬀerences between the 2 groups regarding the duration of language therapy. The present data suggest that co-administration of oriental medicine with language therapy can be an eﬀective