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Buccofacial apraxia in primary progressive aphasia
Keisuke Morihara1, Shoko Ota2, Kazuo Kakinuma2
1Department of Behavioral Neurology and Cognitive Neuroscience, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan; Department of Neurology and Stroke Medicine, Yokohama City University Graduate School of Medicine, Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan.
Buccofacial apraxia (BFA) is linked to agrammatism in nonfluent/agrammatic variant primary progressive aphasia (nfvPPA). This study found BFA correlates with more anterior frontal lobe degeneration than apraxia of speech (AOS).
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Neurology
- Linguistics
Background:
- Buccofacial apraxia (BFA) is known to associate with nonfluent/agrammatic variant primary progressive aphasia (nfvPPA) and apraxia of speech (AOS) severity.
- However, a direct link between BFA and agrammatism has not been previously established.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the association between BFA and agrammatism in patients with nfvPPA.
- To identify differences in brain atrophy patterns between primary progressive aphasia (PPA) patients with and without BFA.
Main Methods:
- Seventy-four PPA patients (including 34 nfvPPA) underwent language and BFA assessments.
- Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) was used to correlate BFA severity with regional brain atrophy.
Main Results:
- BFA was present in 20 nfvPPA patients. These patients exhibited poorer spontaneous speech and writing.
- The BFA group showed a higher agrammatism ratio, indicating more agrammatic errors.
- BFA severity correlated with atrophy in the left inferior and middle frontal gyri, distinct from AOS-related regions.
Conclusions:
- BFA is associated with agrammatism in nfvPPA.
- BFA and AOS in nfvPPA have different anatomical underpinnings, with BFA linked to more anterior frontal lobe degeneration.
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