Oxytocin as a treatment option in right hemisphere stroke

Impairment of empathy or social-emotional functioning are a disabling central feature in right hemisphere stroke, for which there is currently no proven effective treatment. Oxytocin may be a viable treatment to ameliorate this deficit. A decade of oxytocin research in humans has shown us that the hormone may not have prosocial effects in all situations across all people. Care must be taken to ensure that factors that influence its effects are addressed in a treatment paradigm. Long term oxytocin treatment paired with social cognitive training in a controlled clinical setting may prove to be an effective implementation of the peptide. Future work may have to consider problems in current statistical analysis, oxytocin delivery, and understanding of gender effects.