Effect of low frequency or high frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation on stroke patients with nonfluent aphasia / 中国康复理论与实践

ObjectiveTo explore the effect of low frequency or high frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) on right Broca's homologue in stroke patients with nonfluent aphasia. MethodsFrom January, 2019 to August, 2022, 80 inpatients in Beijing Bo'ai Hospital were randomly divided into control group (n = 20), sham stimulation group (n = 20), low-frequency (1 Hz) rTMS (LF-rTMS) group (n = 20) and high-frequency (10 Hz) rTMS (HF-rTMS) group (n = 20). All the patients received routine language therapy. LF-rTMS group and HF-rTMS group received ten days of rTMS (1 Hz or 10 Hz), and the sham group received ten days of sham rTMS. The Western Aphasia Battery (WAB) was used to evaluate the language function before, after treatment, and two months after treatment. ResultsBefore treatment, there was no significant difference in the scores of WAB among four groups (P > 0.05). All the scores improved in the four groups immediately after treatment and two months after treatment (P < 0.05). Compared with immediately after treatment, all the scores of WAB improved in LF-rTMS group (P < 0.05), and the scores of recall, name and aphasia quotient (AQ) improved in HF-rTMS group (P < 0.05) two months after treatment. Immediately after treatment, the scores of content and fluency, auditory comprehension and AQ were higher in LF-rTMS group than in HF-rTMS group (P < 0.05). Two months after treatment, the scores of content and fluency were higher in LF-rTMS group than in HF-rTMS group (P < 0.05). ConclusionBoth 1 Hz and 10 Hz rTMS could improve the language function of stroke patients with nonfluent aphasia, especially 1 Hz.

Effect of Melodic Intonation Therapy on Nonfluent Aphasia after Stroke / 中国康复理论与实践

Objective:To observe the effect of melodic intonation therapy combined with speech training on nonfluent aphasia after stroke, and the changes of brain function. Methods:From March, 2017 to August, 2019, 40 patients with nonfluent aphasia after stroke were randomly divided into control group (n = 20) and intensive group (n = 20). Both groups accepted routine speech training, and the intensive group accepted melodic intonation therapy in addition. They were assessed with China Rehabilitation Research Center Chinese Standard Aphasia Examination before and four weeks after treatment. Three patients from each group were examined with resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging to observe the changes of regional homogeneity (ReHo) of cerebral hemisphere. Results:The scores of comprehension (noun, verb and sentence), repetition (noun and verb), read (noun) and naming (verb) increased in the control group (t > 2.221, P < 0.05), while it increased in comprehension (noun, verb and sentence), repetition (noun, verb and sentence), reading (noun and verb) and naming (noun and verb) in the intensive group (t > 2.179, P < 0.05). The scores of repetition (noun and verb) increased more in the intensive group than in the control group (t > 2.299, P < 0.05)， and the scores of reading (sentence) increased somehow. The ReHo in left cerebellum and temporal occipital area increased and the ReHo in bilateral frontal and temporal cortex decreased after treatment. Conclusion:Melodic intonation therapy based on speech therapy can promote the recovery of speech function for patients with nonfluent aphasia after stroke, especially in sentence reading and words repetition. The changes of the ReHo in resting state may associate with the neurological repairment after brain injury.

¹⁸F-THK5351 PET Imaging in Nonfluent-Agrammatic Variant Primary Progressive Aphasia

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: To analyze 18F-THK5351 positron emission tomography (PET) scans of patients with clinically diagnosed nonfluent/agrammatic variant primary progressive aphasia (navPPA). METHODS: Thirty-one participants, including those with Alzheimer's disease (AD, n=13), navPPA (n=3), and those with normal control (NC, n=15) who completed 3 Tesla magnetic resonance imaging, 18F-THK5351 PET scans, and detailed neuropsychological tests, were included. Voxel-based and region of interest (ROI)-based analyses were performed to evaluate retention of 18F-THK5351 in navPPA patients. RESULTS: In ROI-based analysis, patients with navPPA had higher levels of THK retention in the Broca's area, bilateral inferior frontal lobes, bilateral precentral gyri, and bilateral basal ganglia. Patients with navPPA showed higher levels of THK retention in bilateral frontal lobes (mainly left side) compared than NC in voxel-wise analysis. CONCLUSIONS: In our study, THK retention in navPPA patients was mainly distributed at the frontal region which was well correlated with functional-radiological distribution of navPPA. Our results suggest that tau PET imaging could be a supportive tool for diagnosis of navPPA in combination with a clinical history.

Frontotemporal Dementia

Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is a degenerative disease characterized by the selective frontal and temporal lobe atrophy, and progressive deficits in behavior, executive function, or language. The prevalence and incidence of FTD are 15-22/100000 and 2.7-4.1/100000, respectively, in midlife. Hereditary is an important risk factor for FTD. Although there is some controversy regarding the further syndromatic subdivision of the different types of FTD, FTD is clinically classified into behavioral variant of frontotemporal dementia, semantic dementia and progressive nonfluent aphasia. FTD can be misdiagnosed as many psychiatric disorders because of similarity of the prominent behavioral features. Advances in clinical, imaging, and molecular characterization have increased the accuracy of FTD diagnosis, thus developing for the accurate differentiation of these syndromes from psychiatric disorders. We also discuss about therapeutic strategies for symptom management of FTD. Medications such as serotonin reuptake inhibitors, antipsychotics, and other novel treatments have been used in FTD with various rates of success. Further advanced research should be directed at understanding and developing new diagnostic and therapeutic modalities to improve the FTD patients' prognosis and quality of life.

Effect of Intensity of Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation on Nonfluent Aphasia after Stroke / 中国康复理论与实践

@#Objective To explore the effect of intensity of 1 Hz repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) to right Broca's ho-mologue on nonfluent aphasia after stroke. Methods 40 inpatients were equally divided into low-intensity group and high-intensity group, who received rTMS (1 Hz for 10 minutes) once a day and twice a day respectively for 10 days. They were assessed with Western Aphasia Battery (WAB) before and after intervention, and 2 months after intervention. Results The scores of content and fluency, auditory compre-hension, naming, repetition and AQ improved more in the high-intensity group than in the low-intensity group (P<0.01). It maintained more for 2 months in the scores of content and fluency, repetition and AQ (P<0.05). Conclusion High-intensity rTMS can promote the improve-ment of speech in patients with nonfluent aphasia after stroke that remains for a long term.

Prevalence of frontotemporal dementia in community-based studies in Latin America: a systematic review / Prevalência de demência frontotemporal em estudos de base comunitária na America Latina: uma revisão sistemática

Latin America (LA) is experiencing a rise in the elderly population and a consequent increase in geriatric problemssuch as dementia. There are few epidemiological studies assessing the magnitude of dementia and dementia subtypesin LA. Objective: To identify published community-based studies on the prevalence of FTD in LA countries. Methods: Adatabase search for door-to-door studies on FTD prevalence in LA was performed. The search was carried out on Medline,Embase, and LILACS databases for research conducted between 1994 and 2012. The main inclusion criteria were: use ofany internationally accepted diagnostic criteria and investigation of community samples. Results: Four hundred and ninetytwo articles were found, of which 26 were initially pre-selected by title or abstract review. Five studies from 3 differentcountries were included. The FTD prevalence rates in community-dwelling elderly were 1.2 (Venezuela), 1.3 (Peru) and1.7-1.8 (Brazil) per thousand persons, depending on age group. Conclusion: The FTD prevalence in LA studies showedvalues mid-way between those observed in western and in oriental populations. Despite the magnitude of this problem,epidemiological information on FTD remains scarce in LA.

A América Latina (AL) está experimentando um aumento na população de idosos e um consequente aumento nosproblemas geriátricos, como demência. Existem poucos estudos epidemiológicos avaliando a magnitude de demência edemência subtipos na AL Objetivo: Identificar publicações baseadas em estudos sobre a prevalência da FTD em países daAL. Métodos: A pesquisa realizada foi por estudos de prevalência de FTD em comunidade na AL. A pesquisa foi realizada emMed-line, Embase, e LILACS no período entre 1994 e 2012. Os principais critérios de inclusão foram: utilização de quaisquercritérios internacionalmente aceitos de diagnóstico e investigação de amostras em comunidade. Resultados: Quatrocentose noventa e dois artigos foram encontrados, dos quais 26 foram inicialmente pré-selecionados pelo título ou fiscalização doabstract. Cinco estudos de 3 países diferentes foram incluídos. As taxas de prevalência na comunidade em idosos com FTDeram 1,2 (Venezuela), 1,3 (Peru) e 1,7-1,8 (Brasil) por mil pessoas, dependendo da faixa etária. Conclusão: A prevalênciaFTD em estudos da AL, apresentaram valores intermediários entre os observados em populações ocidentais e orientais. Apesarda magnitude do problema, informações epidemiológicas sobre FTD permanecem escassas em AL.

Frontotemporal dementia and neurocysticercosis: a case report / Demência frontotemporal e neurocisticercose: um relato de caso

We report a case of a 67-year-old woman with frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and a history of neurocysticercosis. After her retirement she showed progressive behavioral changes and neuropsychiatric symptoms with relative preservation ofcognitive functioning. During the next three years, the patient manifested progressive deterioration of verbal communication gradually evolving to mutism, a hall mark of cases of progressive nonfluent aphasia.

Caso de uma mulher de 71 anos com demência frontotemporal e historia de neurocisticercose. Após sua aposentadoria ela apresentou progressivas mudanças comportamentais e sintomas neuropsiquiátricos, com relativa preservação do funcionamento cognitivo. Durante os seguintes três anos, a paciente foi desenvolvendo uma deteriorização progressiva da comunicação verbal evoluindo gradualmente a mutismo, marca que descreve um caso de afasia progressiva não fluente.

Clinical Features and Therapeutic Approaches of Frontotemporal Dementia

Frontotemporal dementia (FTD), formerly called Pick's disease, is a progressive dementia that is associated with focal atrophy of the frontal and/or temporal lobes. FTD has three major clinical subtypes ; 1) a frontal variant of frontotemporal dementia (fvFTD), 2) semantic dementia (SD), and 3) progressive nonfluent aphasia (PNFA). These different variants differ in their clinical symptoms, cognitive deficits, and affected brain regions. The insidious onset of personality changes and behavioral abnormalities is the most prominent feature of fvFTD. Poor insight, loss of personal and social awareness, and blunting of affect are common behavioral changes in fvFTD. The most common presenting complaint in SD involves language, and is often described as a loss of memory for words or a loss of word meaning. Patients with PNFA present with changes in fluency, pronunciation, or word finding difficulty. An accumulating body of evidence suggests that FTD overlaps with three other neurodegenerative diseases: motor neuron disease (MND), corticobasal degeneration (CBD), and progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP). Treatment for FTD consists of behavioral and pharmacological approaches. Medications such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, antipsychotics have used in FTD. Cholinesterase inhibitors do not consistently improve cognitive and behavioral symptoms of FTD. Further research should be directed at developing new therapeutic methods to improve the patients' symptoms.

The effect of voice cues on nonfluent aphasia patients' performance in reading idioms / 中华物理医学与康复杂志

Objective To examine the effect of voice cues on nonfluent aphasia patients'performance in reading idioms.Methods Very familiar idioms were presented to aphasia patients on a computer screen either with or without an accompanying voice cue.The patients were asked to say the last two words of each idiom.The number of errors with the last two words of the idioms wag used to compare the patients'performance under the two conditions.Results The mean correct score was 9.46±13.08 when the idioms were presented without a voice cue,but 13.61±6.06 with the voice cue.The difference was statistically significant.Conclusion Voice cues can improve the speaking of familiar idioms for nonfluent aphasia patients.

Attention resource allocation deficits in patients with nonfluent aphasia in Chinese character processing / 中华物理医学与康复杂志

Objective To determine whether attention allocation deficits contribute to nonfluent aphasia during orthography, phonology, and semantic processing with Chinese characters. Methods Sixteen patients and sixteen controls participated in single and dual tasks. In the single task participants were required to read Chinese characters silently and to make radical, semantic, and final sound judgments (for example, whether the charactersincluded the sound 'ang' ) simultaneously. During the dual task the only difference was that the participants wereasked to read the presented characters aloud and make the same three judgments. Reaction time and error rate were recorded and analysed. Results Reaction times in orthographic judgment were significantly longer for patients than for controls in both task setups. The error rate was also significantly higher. The patients' reaction times in makingphonological judgments in the dual task were significantly longer than in the single task, but there was no significantdifference in error rates between the patients and the controls. In making semantic judgments, neither reaction times nor error rates differed significantly with either the single or dual task protocol. Conclusion Attention allocation deficits play a key role in Chinese character orthographic and phonological processing for nonfluent aphasia sufferers.

Progressive Nonfluent Aphasia With Ideomotor Apraxia and Rigidity in the Right Upper Extremity

A woman developed a slowly progressive speech disturbance at age 51. Three years latter she showed difficulty in calculation, reading and writing. At age 57, she complained of right shoulder pain. At age 58, neurological examination revealed rigidity, bradykinesia and ideomotor apraxia in the right upper extremity. This case demonstrats a clinical overlap between progressive nonfluent aphasia and corticobasal degeneration.

Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration

Frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) is a progressive dementia with prominent neuropsychiatric features, aphasia or both. FTLD predominantly affects the frontal and anterior part of temporal cortex. FTLD is classified into frontotemporal dementia (FTD), progressive nonfluent aphasia (PA), and semantic dementia (SD). FTLD is estimated to account for 20% of cases of degenerative dementia with presenile onset. This disease typically has onset in the mid- or early fifties. FTD is characterized by behavioral change and executive dysfunction, PA features a progressive nonfluent aphasia. SD is characterized by a progressive semantic aphasia and associative agnosia. Structural imaging shows atrophy of the frontal lobe and the anterior portion of the temporal lobe, bilaterally symmetric or asymmetric. Pathologically, FTLD can be classified into tau-positive pathology, tau-negative, ubiquitin positive pathology, dementia lacking distinctive histology. At present, there are no specific pharmacological therapies approved for use in any of the FTLD syndrome.