ABSTRACT

Background

In early stages, individuals with primary progressive aphasia (PPA) report language symptoms while scoring within norm in formal language tests. Early intervention is important due to the progressive nature of the disease.

Method

We report a single-case study of an individual with logopenic variant PPA (lvPPA). We tested whether letter fluency, used as a therapy task, can improve lexical retrieval when combined with tDCS to either the left inferior-frontal gyrus (IFG) or the left inferior parietal lobe (IPL), administered in two separate therapy phases separated by a wash-out period of 3 months.

Outcomes and results

We observed increases in number of words retrieved during a letter fluency task in trained and untrained letters, when letter fluency therapy (LeFT) was administered with anodal tDCS. When LeFT was combined with left IFG stimulation, words produced in a letter fluency task were lower frequency and higher age of acquisition after treatment, compared to before treatment and there was also an increase in accuracy and response times in an untrained picture-naming task.

Conclusions

The results indicate that letter fluency therapy combined anodal tDCS is effective in improving lexical retrieval, particularly when left IFG stimulation was used. Effects generalize beyond the trained task, albeit slowing down of responses in picture naming. This task may provide a useful clinical intervention strategy for patients with mild anomia, who are not challenged enough by traditional naming therapies.

中文翻译：

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使用字母流利度和 tDCS 治疗原发性进行性失语症的词汇检索：单例研究

 抽象的

 背景

在早期阶段，原发性进行性失语症 (PPA) 患者会报告语言症状，但在正式语言测试中得分处于正常范围内。由于该疾病的进展性，早期干预非常重要。

 方法

我们报告了一项针对患有 Logopenic 变异 PPA (lvPPA) 的个体的单例研究。我们测试了字母流利度作为一项治疗任务，与 tDCS 相结合，对左额下回 (IFG) 或左顶叶下叶 (IPL) 进行词汇检索，分两个单独的治疗阶段进行，每个治疗阶段由清洗期为3个月。

 结果和成果

我们观察到，当采用阳极 tDCS 进行字母流畅治疗 (LeFT) 时，在经过训练和未训练的字母中，在字母流畅任务中检索到的单词数量有所增加。当 LeFT 与左侧 IFG 刺激相结合时，与治疗前相比，治疗后字母流利性任务中产生的单词频率较低，习得年龄较高，未经训练的图片命名任务的准确性和反应时间也有所增加。

 结论

结果表明，字母流畅性疗法结合阳极 tDCS 可有效改善词汇检索，特别是在使用左侧 IFG 刺激时。尽管减慢了图片命名的反应，但效果超出了训练任务的范围。这项任务可能为轻度贫血患者提供有用的临床干预策略，这些患者没有受到传统命名疗法的足够挑战。