Logopenic progressive aphasia (LPA) is a variant of
primary progressive aphasia.
It is defined clinically by impairments in naming and sentence repetition.
It is similar to
conduction aphasia and is associated with
atrophy
Atrophy is the partial or complete wasting away of a part of the body. Causes of atrophy include mutations (which can destroy the gene to build up the organ), malnutrition, poor nourishment, poor circulatory system, circulation, loss of hormone, ...
to the left posterior
temporal cortex and
inferior parietal lobule. It is suspected that an atypical form of
Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease and the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems wit ...
is the most common cause of logopenic progressive aphasia.
Although patients with the logopenic variant of PPA are still able to produce speech, their speech rate may be significantly slowed due to word retrieval difficulty.
Over time, they may experience the inability to retain lengthy information, causing problems with understanding complex verbal information.
[UCSF Memory and Aging Center. (2011, February 22). SF: The Regents of the University of California. Retrieved December 5, 2011 from http://memory.ucsf.edu/education/diseases/ppa] Some additional behavioral features include irritability, anxiety and agitation.
Compared to other subtypes of primary progressive aphasia, the logopenic variant has been found to be associated with cognitive and behavioral characteristics. Studies have shown that patients with the logopenic variant perform significantly worse on tests of calculation than other primary progressive aphasia patients. Several logopenic variant patients, especially those with Alzheimer's disease pathology, have also been found to perform poorly on memory tasks.
Logopenic progressive aphasia is caused by damage to segregated brain regions, specifically the inferior parietal lobe and superior temporal regions. Difficulties in naming are produced from the thinning of the inferior parietal lobe. Damage to the dorsal pathways creates language deficiency in patients that is characteristic of logopenic progressive aphasia.
See also
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Aphasia
Aphasia, also known as dysphasia, is an impairment in a person's ability to comprehend or formulate language because of dysfunction in specific brain regions. The major causes are stroke and head trauma; prevalence is hard to determine, but aph ...
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Dementia
Dementia is a syndrome associated with many neurodegenerative diseases, characterized by a general decline in cognitive abilities that affects a person's ability to perform activities of daily living, everyday activities. This typically invo ...
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Early-onset Alzheimer's disease
Early-onset Alzheimer's disease (EOAD), also called younger-onset Alzheimer's disease (YOAD), is Alzheimer's disease diagnosed before the age of 65. It is an uncommon form of Alzheimer's, accounting for only 5–10% of all Alzheimer's cases. Ab ...
References
Further reading
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Alzheimer's disease
Aphasias
Cognitive disorders
Dementia