Primary progressive aphasia and posterior cortical atrophy

Dementia ◽  
2010 ◽  
pp. 710-722
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Sung Hoon Kang ◽  
Hanna Cho ◽  
Jiho Shin ◽  
Hang-Rai Kim ◽  
Young Noh ◽  
...  

Background: Primary progressive aphasia (PPA) is associated with amyloid-β (Aβ) pathology. However, clinical feature of PPA based on Aβ positivity remains unclear. Objective: We aimed to assess the prevalence of Aβ positivity in patients with PPA and compare the clinical characteristics of patients with Aβ-positive (A+) and Aβ-negative (A–) PPA. Further, we applied Aβ and tau classification system (AT system) in patients with PPA for whom additional information of in vivo tau biomarker was available. Methods: We recruited 110 patients with PPA (41 semantic [svPPA], 27 non-fluent [nfvPPA], 32 logopenic [lvPPA], and 10 unclassified [ucPPA]) who underwent Aβ-PET imaging at multi centers. The extent of language impairment and cortical atrophy were compared between the A+ and A–PPA subgroups using general linear models. Results: The prevalence of Aβ positivity was highest in patients with lvPPA (81.3%), followed by ucPPA (60.0%), nfvPPA (18.5%), and svPPA (9.8%). The A+ PPA subgroup manifested cortical atrophy mainly in the left superior temporal/inferior parietal regions and had lower repetition scores compared to the A–PPA subgroup. Further, we observed that more than 90%(13/14) of the patients with A+ PPA had tau deposition. Conclusion: Our findings will help clinicians understand the patterns of language impairment and cortical atrophy in patients with PPA based on Aβ deposition. Considering that most of the A+ PPA patents are tau positive, understanding the influence of Alzheimer’s disease biomarkers on PPA might provide an opportunity for these patients to participate in clinical trials aimed for treating atypical Alzheimer’s disease.


Neurology ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 90 (5) ◽  
pp. e396-e403 ◽  
Author(s):  
Garam Kim ◽  
Shahrooz Vahedi ◽  
Tamar Gefen ◽  
Sandra Weintraub ◽  
Eileen H. Bigio ◽  
...  

ObjectiveTo quantitatively examine the regional densities and hemispheric distribution of the 43-kDa transactive response DNA-binding protein (TDP-43) inclusions, neurons, and activated microglia in a left-handed patient with right hemisphere language dominance and logopenic-variant primary progressive aphasia (PPA).MethodsPhosphorylated TDP-43 inclusions, neurons, and activated microglia were visualized with immunohistochemical and histologic methods. Markers were quantified bilaterally with unbiased stereology in language- and memory-related cortical regions.ResultsClinical MRI indicated cortical atrophy in the right hemisphere, mostly in the temporal lobe. Significantly higher densities of TDP-43 inclusions were present in right language-related temporal regions compared to the left or to other right hemisphere regions. The memory-related entorhinal cortex (ERC) and language regions without significant atrophy showed no asymmetry. Activated microglia displayed extensive asymmetry (R > L). A substantial density of neurons remained in all areas and showed no hemispheric asymmetry. However, perikaryal size was significantly smaller in the right hemisphere across all regions except the ERC. To demonstrate the specificity of this finding, sizes of residual neurons were measured in a right-handed case with PPA and were found to be smaller in the language-dominant left hemisphere.ConclusionsThe distribution of TDP-43 inclusions and microglial activation in right temporal language regions showed concordance with anatomic distribution of cortical atrophy and clinical presentation. The results revealed no direct relationship between density of TDP-43 inclusions and activated microglia. Reduced size of the remaining neurons is likely to contribute to cortical atrophy detected by MRI. These findings support the conclusion that there is no obligatory relationship between logopenic PPA and Alzheimer pathology.


2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. P1499
Author(s):  
Daniel T. Ohm ◽  
Garam Kim ◽  
Tamar Gefen ◽  
Alfred Rademaker ◽  
Sandra Weintraub ◽  
...  

2006 ◽  
Vol 14 (7S_Part_13) ◽  
pp. P733-P733
Author(s):  
Daniel T. Ohm ◽  
Garam Kim ◽  
Tamar Gefen ◽  
Alfred Rademaker ◽  
Sandra Weintraub ◽  
...  

2012 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 261-275 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maya L. Henry ◽  
Pélagie M. Beeson ◽  
Gene E. Alexander ◽  
Steven Z. Rapcsak

Connectionist theories of language propose that written language deficits arise as a result of damage to semantic and phonological systems that also support spoken language production and comprehension, a view referred to as the “primary systems” hypothesis. The objective of the current study was to evaluate the primary systems account in a mixed group of individuals with primary progressive aphasia (PPA) by investigating the relation between measures of nonorthographic semantic and phonological processing and written language performance and by examining whether common patterns of cortical atrophy underlie impairments in spoken versus written language domains. Individuals with PPA and healthy controls were administered a language battery, including assessments of semantics, phonology, reading, and spelling. Voxel-based morphometry was used to examine the relation between gray matter volumes and language measures within brain regions previously implicated in semantic and phonological processing. In accordance with the primary systems account, our findings indicate that spoken language performance is strongly predictive of reading/spelling profile in individuals with PPA and suggest that common networks of critical left hemisphere regions support central semantic and phonological processes recruited for spoken and written language.


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