## 5 Discussion and Conclusions  
Stroke is a medical condition that affects the brain and prevents it from functioning properly. Combined with drug therapy, rehabilitative treatment is a precious tool for promoting recovery. The effectiveness of the treatment depends on several factors, such as the therapy type, duration, intensity and beginning treatment early [28]. The treatment can include neuromotor rehabilitation, speech therapy, and cognitive and respiratory rehabilitation. It has been shown that the combination of robotic, psychomotor and cognitive therapy produces positive effects in the rehabilitative process [29]. Moreover, a new effective physiotherapy method for improving movement in post-stroke patients is represented by virtual reality therapy, which allows the subject to interact with an environment within a simulated reality [30]. Therefore, a multidisciplinary approach, based on the cooperation and collaboration between several health professionals, is considered to be a key point for a successful rehabilitative treatment. In this study, we analyzed the functional connectivity of a left ischemic stroke patient, who suffered from conduction aphasia, before and after a period of intensive rehabilitation. In a human brain, most of the time, the left hemisphere is dominant for language processing [31]. This has been proven by studies that detected a higher activity during language processing in the left hemisphere and a greater probability of linguistic impairment deriving from injuries to the left hemisphere [32; 33; 34]. As for aphasia, the role of the right hemisphere is still unclear and debated. Nevertheless, there is some evidence that the right hemisphere plays a facilitatory role in the recovery after the rehabilitative treatment in the subacute stage (up to six months after a stroke) [35]. In our study, among the network parameters that are commonly used to describe the brain networks, we chose the global and local connectivity. We expected that after the treatment, a balance of functional connectivity between the impaired and healthy \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c} \hline \hline \multirow{2}{*}{**Network Parameters**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Naming Task**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Repetition Task**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Reading Task**} \\  & \multicolumn{2}{c}{_p-Value_} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{_p-Value_} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{_p-Value_} \\ \cline{2-7}  & **T0** & **T1** & **T0** & **T1** & **T0** & **T1** \\ \hline Global Efficiency & 0.0456 * & 0.6728 & 0.0136 * & 0.5098 & 0.0193 * & 0.3922 \\ \hline Local Efficiency & 0.0597 & 0.5341 & 0.0023 * & 0.1992 & 0.0033 * & 0.1340 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
* denotes statistically significant differences (\(p<0.05\)).  
\end{table} 
Table 1: Results of the [PERSON] rank-sum test. Figure 6: AAT test score at T0 and T1. hemisphere occurred. Actually, this trend was observed during the execution of all the three considered tasks. It is noteworthy to point out that for name and repetition tasks, shortly after the stroke, the global and local connectivity are lower in the affected lobe (left hemisphere) than in the unaffected one (right hemisphere). Conversely, for the reading task, global and local connectivity are higher in the left lobe. This apparently contrasting behavior can be explained as a consequence of the alteration of the brain functional network, which can also concern regions belonging to the unaffected lobe. Moreover, changes in network connectivity can be task-dependent, as reported in previous studies [36,37]. In conclusion, functional connectivity in stroke patients has not yet been sufficiently explored and needs to be further investigated. Our work can be considered a starting point for future in-depth research. However, despite the potential of our research, some limitations in this work need to be addressed. First, this is a case report that considers only one subject, so a longitudinal study involving a cohort of patients would further validate our conclusions.