NU neurologists seek early interventions for aphasia

CHICAGO, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Combination of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and traditional structural MRI has the potential to help with the diagnosis, treatment planning, and measurement of therapeutic interventions for primary progressive aphasia (PPA), researchers at Northwestern University (NU) Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer's Disease Center (CNADC) found recently.

"We identified 10 patients in our center and found that they had abnormality in their resting state fMRI although the structure of the brain looked normal," said Borna Bonakdarpour, principal investigator of the study. "This is a very important discovery to enhance early diagnosis and treatment of the disease."

Each of the 10 patients suffered from the agrammatic form of PPA, meaning they had a deficit in language production and could not produce grammatical sentences. Their sentences were often very short and words were put together in the wrong order.

The research team is submitting its fMRI findings from an additional group of about 70 PPA patients who have more severe language impairment.

The most common way to diagnose PPA is to use structural MRI to identify atrophy, or shrinkage, within the brain. However, in early stages of the disease, some patients do not display this atrophy, making diagnosis and treatment planning difficult.