The findings in conduction aphasia may be subtle because of the lack of neurological findings. The patient may complain of trouble coming up with words, or making errors when he/she tries to speak.  During the assessment of aphasia, the clinician should examine the patient's verbal fluency, comprehension, repetition, reading, writing, and naming.  A patient with relatively well-preserved auditory comprehension, fluent speech production, reading, writing, but poor speech repetition may have conduction aphasia.  Patients may display well-articulated responses similar to the target word and continue to repeat words or phrases to correct the error (conduit d’approache). The rest of the neurological exam (cranial nerves, motor, sensory, reflexes, gait, coordination) is typically normal.

The finding of conduction aphasia at the bedside suggests the possibility of a lesion in the dominant hemisphere of the brain, specifically the areas that connect Wernicke's and Broca's area. The clinician should perform neuro-imaging to look for a stroke, tumor, infection, or another pathology in the setting of conduction aphasia.  CT or MRI of the brain is the first imaging modality of choice.  Depending on the results, further testing may be necessary to determine the precise etiology. 

There is no standard treatment for aphasia. Speech and language therapy is the core mainstay of care for patients with aphasia. The therapist should tailor the treatment to the individual needs of the patient. Conduction aphasia is a relatively mild language impairment, and most patients can return to day-to-day life. No medical or surgical treatment improves the outcome in patients with aphasia. However, if the underlying lesion is an infection or tumor, then removing the offending lesion may prevent worsening of the deficit.

Aphasia differs from dysarthria which results from impaired articulation. Dysarthria is a motor dysfunction due to disrupted innervation to the face, tongue or soft palate that results in slurred speech. Conduction aphasia differs from Wernicke's and Broca's aphasia in that there is an isolated inability to repeat. Neurodegenerative disorders such as primary progressive aphasia lead to a gradual loss of language function.[7] However, this condition affects all aspects of language.  Trans-cortical motor and sensory aphasias do not affect repetition.  Anomic aphasia affects only the ability to name objects and does not affect repetition. 

The prognosis for conduction aphasia depends on the underlying cause. If the cause is a stroke, patients can make a good recovery but may have persistent deficits. Speech therapy may be useful to help remediate the effects of the aphasia and restore normal function. 

Conduction aphasia is less disabling that other types of aphasia. However, it still may cause issues with communication. Education regarding the patient's condition should involve the patient, family, and caregivers.

When patients complain of stumbling over words, it is important for clinicians to ask the patient to repeat simple phrases to test for conduction aphasia. The impaired repetition suggests a lesion in the para-Sylvian region of the dominant hemisphere. Therefore, the clinician should get neuro-imaging to look for pathology affecting this region of the brain.

Patients with conduction aphasia may take weeks to months to recover. The patient, family, and caregivers, and the treatment team need to know of the patient's deficits and be supportive of the recovery efforts to maximize recovery. Patients should continue to engage in social and leisure activities to avoid social isolation. Importantly, patients with conduction aphasia rarely have intellectual deficits, but only an isolated difficulty in repetition.