Classifying and Monitoring Primary Progressive Aphasia in the Greek Population: A "Mini Linguistic State Examination...

Area of Science:

• Neurology
• Linguistics
• Psychometry

Background:

• Primary Progressive Aphasia (PPA) presents with language production and comprehension deficits.
• Current assessment tools for PPA subtypes are often lengthy and impractical.
• There is a need for brief, practical instruments to screen for language impairment in PPA.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the Mini Linguistic State Examination (MLSE) for distinguishing PPA patients from healthy controls.
• To assess the MLSE's ability to differentiate between PPA subtypes in Greek clinical settings.
• To determine the diagnostic accuracy and clinical utility of the MLSE for PPA.

Main Methods:

• Administered the 15-minute MLSE to clinically diagnosed PPA patients and healthy participants.
• Collected comprehensive neuropsychological data from PPA patients.
• Utilized single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) to explore brain perfusion patterns.

Main Results:

• Significant differences were observed across all MLSE language domains between PPA patients and controls (p < 0.001).
• Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses showed excellent diagnostic accuracy (AUC > 0.90) for MLSE language domains.
• The total MLSE score achieved perfect classification accuracy (AUC = 1.00, p < 0.001).

Conclusions:

• The MLSE is a valuable tool for detecting specific language deficits in PPA.
• The MLSE provides a comprehensive linguistic profile, aiding in the differentiation of PPA variants.
• Findings support the MLSE's clinical utility and diagnostic potential for PPA assessment.