The Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration (AFTD) had a webinar last week for healthcare professionals that addressed how primary progressive aphasia (PPA) is diagnosed. The AFTD says, “This webinar is intended for clinicians to support early detection and accurate diagnosis of PPA.” Topics included symptoms of PPA, inclusion and exclusion criteria for making a PPA diagnosis, and common presentations for PPA subtypes.
The speaker, Dr. Marsel Mesulam, is famous for his role in building a center at Northwestern with strong expertise in PPA.
For me, the most interesting parts of the webinar were about neuropathology. We help many families with brain donation, many of whom have loved ones with a PPA diagnosis. These families are expecting to see confirmation of frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD – that’s a neuropathologic term). Instead, it is common for families to see brain donation reports that indicate their PPA loved ones had Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). (See some of our AD case studies.)
How does this happen? Dr. Mesulam explains!
The neuropathology section begins at timestamp 20:29.
At timestamp 27:41, Dr. Mesulam notes that 70% of the time those with *logopenic* PPA have Alzheimer’s pathology.
At timestamp 29:00, Dr. Mesulam notes that many viewers are probably surprised that Alzheimer’s pathology causes PPA.
At timestamp 48:14, Dr. Mesulam picks up the topic of Alzheimer’s again. He explains that now we can diagnose Alzheimer’s in a living person through special imaging, CSF tests, or blood tests.
Check it out! Again, the webinar is for healthcare professionals but the speaker’s slides and explanations are very clear.
Robin
Brain Support Network CEO