Abstract
The term primary progressive aphasia (PPA) describes a group of neurodegenerative disorders with predominant speech and language dysfunction as their main feature. There are three main variants - the semantic variant, the nonfluent or agrammatic variant and the logopenic variant - each with specific linguistic deficits and different neuroanatomical involvement. There are currently no curative treatments or symptomatic pharmacological therapies. However, speech and language therapists have developed several impairment-based interventions and compensatory strategies for use in the clinic. Unfortunately, multiple barriers still need to be overcome to improve access to care for people with PPA, including increasing awareness among referring clinicians, improving training of speech and language therapists and developing evidence-based guidelines for therapeutic interventions. This review highlights this inequity and the reasons why neurologists should refer people with PPA to speech and language therapists.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 154-162 |
| Number of pages | 9 |
| Journal | Practical Neurology |
| Volume | 20 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Apr 1 2020 |
Funding
JDR is an MRC Clinician Scientist (MR/M008525/1) and has received funding from the NIHR Rare Diseases Translational Research Collaboration (BRC149/NS/MH), the Bluefield Project and the Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration. JDW receives grant support from the Alzheimer's Society and Alzheimer's Research UK. ER is supported by AG055425 and AG13854 (Alzheimer Disease Core Centre) from the National Institute on Ageing. AV is funded by an NIHR Doctoral Research Fellowship (DRF-2015- 08-182). Acknowledgements The authors acknowledge the support of the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Queen Square Dementia Biomedical Research Unit and the University College London Hospitals Biomedical Research Centre; the Leonard Wolfson Experimental Neurology Centre; the MRC Dementias Platform UK and the UK Dementia Research Institute. The Dementia Research Centre is an Alzheimer\u2019s Research UK coordinating centre and is supported by Alzheimer\u2019s Research UK, the Brain Research Trust and the Wolfson Foundation. Funding JDR is an MRC Clinician Scientist (MR/M008525/1) and has received funding from the NIHR Rare Diseases Translational Research Collaboration (BRC149/NS/MH), the Bluefield Project and the Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration. JDW receives grant support from the Alzheimer's Society and Alzheimer's Research UK. ER is supported by AG055425 and AG13854 (Alzheimer Disease Core Centre) from the National Institute on Ageing. AV is funded by an NIHR Doctoral Research Fellowship (DRF-2015-08-182). Competing interests None declared. Patient consent for publication Not required. Provenance and peer review Commissioned. Externally peer reviewed by Michael O\u2019Sullivan, Queensland, Australia.
Keywords
- aphasia
- frontotemporal dementia
- primary progressive aphasia
- speech therapy
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Clinical Neurology
