Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 29, 2026
11:12
Controlling Parkinson's Disease With Adaptive Deep Brain Stimulation
Published on: July 16, 2014
Parkinson's disease showing progressive conduction aphasia
Kenji Sakai1, Kenjiro Ono, Hiromi Harada
1Department of Neurology and Neurobiology of Aging, Kanazawa University Graduate School of Medical Science, 13-1 Takaramachi, Kanazawa 920-8640, Japan. ksakai@med.kanazawa-u.ac.jp
Summary
This study details a Parkinson's disease patient who developed progressive conduction aphasia, a rare language disorder. This suggests an unusual Lewy body pathology progression in Parkinson's disease.
Area of Science:
- Neurology
- Neuroscience
- Pathology
Background:
- Parkinson's disease (PD) can lead to dementia, often linked to Lewy bodies (LBs) and sometimes Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathology.
- Aphasia is rarely reported in PD, particularly without coexisting AD pathology.
Observation:
- A female PD patient presented with progressive conduction aphasia, characterized by phonemic paraphasia and impaired sentence repetition.
- She exhibited visual hallucinations and cognitive deficits in orientation, attention, and visuospatial functions, but these did not severely impact daily life.
Findings:
- Brain imaging revealed left superior temporal gyrus atrophy and hypometabolism in the left cerebral hemisphere, correlating with conduction aphasia.
- These neurological findings suggest an atypical upward progression of Lewy body pathology from the brainstem to the left temporoparietal lobe.
Implications:
- This case highlights an unusual presentation of Lewy body pathology in Parkinson's disease, leading to conduction aphasia.
- Understanding atypical LB progression is crucial for diagnosing and managing complex neurological and cognitive symptoms in PD patients.
Related Concept Videos
01:15Parkinson's Disease: Overview
Neurodegenerative disorders are progressive diseases that cause irreversible damage and loss to neurons in specific brain areas. Examples of these disorders include Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, Multiple Sclerosis (MS), and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). These disorders share characteristics such as proteinopathies, selective neuronal vulnerability, and a complex interplay between genetic and environmental factors. The primary therapeutic goal for these conditions is to...
01:24Parkinson Disease l: Introduction
Parkinson’s disease is a chronic, progressive neurodegenerative disorder that primarily affects movement. It is characterized by motor symptoms such as resting tremors, muscle rigidity, bradykinesia (slowness of movement), and postural instability. Patients may notice hand tremors at rest, stiffness during movement, or a shuffling gait. In addition to motor features, non-motor symptoms include sleep disturbances, mood and behavioral changes, constipation, and cognitive impairment, all of which...
01:24Parkinson Disease ll: Pathophysiology
Parkinson disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder primarily affecting movement, with additional non-motor features. Its pathophysiology involves complex interactions among genetic susceptibility, environmental exposures, and cellular dysfunction, including dopaminergic neuron loss, protein aggregation, and mitochondrial impairment.Selective NeurodegenerationA key feature is the degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta, leading to reduced...
01:24Parkinson's Disease: Treatment
Neurodegenerative disorders, such as Parkinson's Disease (PD), involve the gradual and irreversible destruction of neurons in particular brain areas. These disorders exhibit standard features like proteinopathies, selective vulnerability of some neurons, and an interaction of intrinsic properties, genetics, and environmental influences in neural injury.
Parkinson's Disease is primarily a result of the loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta. The cornerstone of its...
Parkinson's Disease is primarily a result of the loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta. The cornerstone of its...
01:23Alzheimer Disease ll: Pathophysiology
Alzheimer disease involves structural changes in the brain that begin long before symptoms appear. The most distinctive features are extracellular neuritic plaques and intracellular neurofibrillary tangles.Neuritic plaques form in the cerebral cortex and around blood vessels. These plaques contain a dense core of beta-amyloid (Aβ)—a toxic protein fragment that clumps outside neurons. The core is surrounded by damaged neuronal extensions, as well as reactive astrocytes and microglia. Abnormal...
01:21Huntington Disease l: Introduction
Huntington disease or HD is a progressive, fatal neurodegenerative disorder inherited in an autosomal dominant pattern.PathophysiologyIt is caused by expansion of the CAG trinucleotide repeat in the HTT gene on chromosome 4 (4p16.3), producing an abnormal huntingtin protein with an expanded polyglutamine tract. This misfolded protein disrupts cellular function, leading to neuronal death. Normal alleles have ≤26 repeats, 27–35 are intermediate (risk of expansion), 36–39 show reduced penetrance,...