One of the most talked about diseases in recent days has been Primary Progressive Aphasia (PPA), which caused the famous actor Bruce Willis to no longer be an actor. Primary Progressive Aphasia, a relatively rare subtype of dementia, the feared disease of the age, develops due to progressive damage to the areas of the brain responsible for language functions and affects the daily life activities of the person. Acıbadem University Neurology Department Faculty Member and Acıbadem Taksim Hospital Neurology Specialist Dr. Faculty Member Mustafa Seçkin said, “Since Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause of dementia and forgetfulness is the most common symptom of Alzheimer's disease, there is a general perception of dementia equals forgetfulness. However, forgetfulness is not the only symptom of dementia, and cognitive impairment can be observed in some dementia patients without apparent forgetfulness. Language disorders, or "aphasia," can be one of these symptoms, he says. Neurologist Dr. Faculty Member Mustafa Seçkin explained the 3 important symptoms of Primary Progressive Aphasia and made important warnings and suggestions.
Impaired language and communication skills!
Dementia is a disease characterized by progressive deterioration in cognitive functions. What is meant by cognitive functions are memory, attention, executive functions (calculation, decision making, reasoning, etc.), visual-spatial functions (object and face recognition, direction finding, etc.) and language functions. Since Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause of dementia and forgetfulness is the most common symptom of Alzheimer's disease, there is a general perception of 'dementia equals forgetfulness'. However, forgetfulness is not the only symptom of dementia, and cognitive impairment can be observed in some dementia patients without significant forgetfulness. Language disorders, or "aphasia", may also be one of these symptoms. The type of dementia in which language disorder is at the forefront is called Primary Progressive Aphasia (PPA). Impairment in language and communication skills is prominent in PPA patients.
Don't start using the words 'just on the tip of my tongue' and 'thing'!
Although the speech seems fluent in some patients, what they say is incomprehensible because they use meaningless words. These patients also have difficulty understanding the words they hear or read. For example; When asked "Do you want bread" at dinner, "What is bread?" they may reply. In a group of patients, there may not be a significant understanding disorder, but in these patients, speech fluency begins to deteriorate, and even grammatical errors can be seen. They can start to speak like a foreigner who has just learned Turkish. In a new patient group defined in recent years, it has been shown that word-finding difficulties are at the forefront, although both comprehension and grammar are preserved. These patients, especially in the early stages of the disease, may say "right on the tip of my tongue" when they do not think of the words they will say, or they may start to use the word "thing" more often than before.
Anxiety and mood disorders are on the rise!
Neurologist Dr. “Language functions are mostly affected in PPA patients, but as the disease progresses, it begins to affect other cognitive functions as well. In a study recently published in the Journal of Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology; We demonstrated verbal memory impairments in PPA patients. However, visual memory functions were preserved in the same patient group. This is one of the issues where typical Alzheimer's disease differs from PPA. Although the disease progresses, visual memory functions can be preserved until late in PPA patients. In some patients, especially attention and executive dysfunctions may develop. In another of our studies; “We have shown that PPA patients can have mood disorders characterized by severe anxiety, apathy, apathy, and irritability.” In addition to language and communication problems, neuropsychiatric disorders caused by the disease can also create serious problems for family members who care for aphasia patients.
Difficulty finding words is seen as 'simple forgetfulness', but!
Neurologist Dr. Professor Mustafa Seçkin states that studies on early diagnosis and treatment of the disease continue rapidly in the world and in our country, and says: “There is not yet a treatment that will eliminate primary progressive aphasia or stop its progression. But new drug studies offer hope in slowing brain damage. When it is started to be used, PPA patients will also be able to benefit from these drugs, just like Alzheimer's patients. In addition, language-speech therapies started in the early stages can enable patients to maintain their communication skills for a longer period of time. However, PPA patients are delayed in consulting a neurologist because they do not have obvious complaints of forgetfulness or because naming and word-finding difficulties, which are early signs of aphasia, are considered as 'simple forgetfulness'. However, raising awareness about the decline in one's language and communication skills will also be useful for early detection of dementia.
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