Lexical retrieval treatment in primary progressive aphasia: An investigation of treatment duration in a heterogeneous case series

Karen Croot; Theresa Raiser; Cathleen Taylor-Rubin; Leanne Ruggero; Nibal Ackl; Elisabeth Wlasich; Adrian Danek; Angela Scharfenberg; David Foxe; John R Hodges; Olivier Piguet; Nicole A Kochan; Lyndsey Nickels

doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2019.01.009

Lexical retrieval treatment in primary progressive aphasia: An investigation of treatment duration in a heterogeneous case series

Cortex. 2019 Jun:115:133-158. doi: 10.1016/j.cortex.2019.01.009. Epub 2019 Jan 30.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Cognitive Science, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia; ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, Australia; School of Psychology, University of Sydney, Australia. Electronic address: karen.croot@sydney.edu.au.
² Department of Cognitive Science, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia; ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, Australia; School of Psychology, University of Sydney, Australia; Department of Neurology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich, Germany.
³ Department of Cognitive Science, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia; ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, Australia; School of Psychology, University of Sydney, Australia; Speech Pathology Department, War Memorial Hospital, Waverley, Australia.
⁴ Department of Cognitive Science, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia; ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, Australia; School of Psychology, University of Sydney, Australia.
⁵ Department of Neurology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich, Germany.
⁶ Brain and Mind Centre, University of Sydney, Australia.
⁷ ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, Australia; Brain and Mind Centre, University of Sydney, Australia; Central Clinical School, University of Sydney, Australia.
⁸ ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, Australia; School of Psychology, University of Sydney, Australia; Brain and Mind Centre, University of Sydney, Australia.
⁹ Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia; Neuropsychiatric Institute, Prince of Wales Hospital, Sydney, Australia.
¹⁰ Department of Cognitive Science, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia; ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, Australia.

PMID: 30822613
DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2019.01.009

Abstract

Word-finding difficulty is typically an early and frustrating symptom of primary progressive aphasia (PPA), prompting investigations of lexical retrieval treatment in PPA. This study aimed to investigate immediate treatment gains following two versus four weeks of treatment, item generalisation, and maintenance of gains with ongoing treatment in a single case series of eight individuals with heterogeneous PPA presentations (three non-fluent/agrammatic, two logopenic, two semantic, and one mixed PPA). Three individuals made initial gains in picture naming and maintained them over 6 months or more with ongoing treatment. By contrast, three individuals made marginal initial gains but were unable to continue treatment, and two individuals did not make the typically-reported initial gains with two or four weeks of treatment. There was little evidence of generalisation to untreated items. Our results add to the evidence that daily home practice of Repetition and Reading in the Presence of a Picture over extended periods can increase and maintain retrieval of personally-relevant words in picture naming for some individuals with semantic or nonfluent/agrammatic variant PPA. Further research is needed into the factors associated with long-term treatment adherence and gains, and the factors associated with nonadherence to treatment.

Keywords: Anomia; Frontotemporal dementia; PPA; Therapy; Word retrieval.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Aged
Aphasia, Primary Progressive / physiopathology
Aphasia, Primary Progressive / rehabilitation*
Duration of Therapy
Female
Humans
Language Therapy / methods*
Language*
Male
Middle Aged
Speech / physiology*
Treatment Outcome