Posterior Cortical Atrophy in the Asia-Pacific: A Report From the PCA Asian Workgroup

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Neurology
• Dementia Research

Background:

• Posterior Cortical Atrophy (PCA) is a dementia syndrome impacting spatial and visual processing due to posterior brain degeneration.
• PCA is subclassified into PCA-pure and PCA-plus syndromes.
• The PCA Asia Workgroup was formed to investigate PCA within Asian countries.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze the clinical characteristics of PCA in an Asian population.
• To compare real-world PCA presentations with existing consensus criteria and meta-analyses.

Main Methods:

• The Asia PCA Workgroup gathered demographic and clinical data from PCA patients.
• Patients were categorized into PCA-pure and PCA-plus subtypes.
• Clinical findings were compared against consensus estimates and published meta-analyses.

Main Results:

• PCA-pure was the predominant subtype (76.2%), often with earlier onset (80.95%).
• Early symptoms in Asian PCA patients showed a prominent executive/memory deficit preceding visual disturbances, contrary to consensus.
• PCA-Lewy body disease (PCA-DLB) showed increased attention deficits, hallucinations, fluctuations, and rigidity compared to PCA-pure.

Conclusions:

• This study highlights distinct real-world clinical presentations of PCA syndrome in Asians.
• Findings differ significantly from current consensus estimations and published meta-analyses.
• Further international research is necessary to compare PCA across ethnicities for a global understanding.