Primary and Secondary Progressive Aphasia in Posterior Cortical Atrophy.

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Neurolinguistics
• Clinical Neurology

Background:

• Posterior cortical atrophy (PCA) is a syndrome defined by progressive visuospatial and visuoperceptual decline.
• PCA is often associated with broader cognitive impairments, including deficits in language processing.

Observation:

• Three patients with language complaints and PCA-compatible profiles underwent detailed neurological, neuroimaging, neuropsychological, and neurolinguistic assessments.
• Patients exhibited Balint's and Gerstmann's syndromes, alongside executive dysfunction, memory deficits, and sensorimotor impairments.

Findings:

• PCA diagnosis was supported, though complicated by confounding factors.
• Language impairments included word-finding difficulties, impaired sentence comprehension and repetition, reduced verbal fluency, and deficits in narrative speech, reading, and writing.
• Both primary and secondary language deficits were evident in the PCA patients.

Implications:

• This research confirms visuospatial and visuoperceptual deficits in PCA.
• The study provides evidence for significant primary and secondary language impairments in PCA.
• Similarities between PCA language deficits and the logopenic variant of primary progressive aphasia are explored, offering insights into neurolinguistic and neuroanatomical underpinnings.