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Is descriptive writing useful in the differential diagnosis of logopenic variant of primary progressive aphasia, Alzheimer's disease and mild cognitive impairment?
Affiliations- Neurology Department, St. Adalbert Hospital, Copernicus Podmiot Leczniczy Sp. z o.o., Gdansk, Poland
- Department of Neurological and Psychiatric Nursing, Medical University of Gdansk, Gdańsk, Poland
- Neurology Department, Central Clinical Hospital of the Ministry of Interior, Warsaw, Poland
- Speech Therapy Department, Faculty of Languages, University of Gdansk, Gdansk, Poland
- Neurological Rehabilitation Department, Specialist Hospital in Koscierzyna, Dzierzazno, Poland
- Neurodegenerative Disorders Department, Mossakowski Medical Research Center, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
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Abstract
Current classification of primary progressive aphasia (PPA) encompasses three variants: non-fluent (nfvPPA), semantic (svPPA) and logopenic (lvPPA). Previously lvPPA was regarded as aphasic form of Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, not all patients with lvPPA phenotype present with AD pathology. Despite abundant literature on differentiation of lvPPA from svPPA and nfvPPA, studies comparing lvPPA with AD and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) are scarce. This study aimed at analyzing written descriptive output in lvPPA, AD and MCI. Thirty-five patients participated in the study: 9 with lvPPA, 13 with AD and 13 with MCI. Most aspects of writing performance were comparable in three groups. However, letter insertion errors appeared in 44% patients with lvPPA, while they were absent in AD and MCI. Patients with lvPPA used more verbs than patients with AD. Writing profile may complement other neuropsychological assessment results in the differential diagnosis of lvPPA. Letter insertion errors and frequent verb use may raise a query of lvPPA.
Abstract
Current classification of primary progressive aphasia (PPA) encompasses three variants: non-fluent (nfvPPA), semantic (svPPA) and logopenic (lvPPA). Previously lvPPA was regarded as aphasic form of Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, not all patients with lvPPA phenotype present with AD pathology. Despite abundant literature on differentiation of lvPPA from svPPA and nfvPPA, studies comparing lvPPA with AD and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) are scarce. This study aimed at analyzing written descriptive output in lvPPA, AD and MCI. Thirty-five patients participated in the study: 9 with lvPPA, 13 with AD and 13 with MCI. Most aspects of writing performance were comparable in three groups. However, letter insertion errors appeared in 44% patients with lvPPA, while they were absent in AD and MCI. Patients with lvPPA used more verbs than patients with AD. Writing profile may complement other neuropsychological assessment results in the differential diagnosis of lvPPA. Letter insertion errors and frequent verb use may raise a query of lvPPA.
Keywords
Logopenic progressive aphasia, Primary progressive aphasia, Mild cognitive impairment, Alzheimer' s disease, Agraphia
About this articleTitle
Is descriptive writing useful in the differential diagnosis of logopenic variant of primary progressive aphasia, Alzheimer's disease and mild cognitive impairment?
Journal
Neurologia i Neurochirurgia Polska
Issue
Pages
239-244
Page views
360
Article views/downloads
493
DOI
10.1016/j.pjnns.2015.06.001
Bibliographic record
Neurol Neurochir Pol 2015;49(4):239-244.
Keywords
Logopenic progressive aphasia
Primary progressive aphasia
Mild cognitive impairment
Alzheimer's disease
Agraphia
Authors
Emilia J. Sitek
Anna Barczak
Klaudia Kluj-Kozłowska
Marcin Kozłowski
Maria Barcikowska
Jarosław Sławek
