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The Dissolution of Language in Alzheimer's Disease

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 September 2015

Andrew Kertesz ,
Julian Appell  and
Michael Fisman
Andrew Kertesz*
Affiliation:
Departments of Clinical Neurological Sciences and Psychiatry, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario N6A 5C1
Julian Appell
Affiliation:
Departments of Clinical Neurological Sciences and Psychiatry, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario N6A 5C1
Michael Fisman
Affiliation:
Departments of Clinical Neurological Sciences and Psychiatry, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario N6A 5C1
*
Department of Clinical Neurological Sciences and Psychiatry, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada N6A 5C1
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Abstract:

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Language impairment in Alzheimer's disease has become an important clinical issue. It has been recognized for some time that the disease may begin with aphasia and even before frank aphasia develops, some of the earliest changes in a large number of individuals consist of impairment of word fluency and semantic access manifesting itself in word finding difficulty. The second major issue concerning language in Alzheimer's disease is that the cases which have early severe language impairment may represent a more progressive familial variety of disease as it has been suggested in the literature. This is still subject to controversy. Finally, it will be documented that the later stage of the disease shows language invariably impaired and goes through stages of dissolution that resemble anomic, transcortical sensory, Wernicke's and global aphasias. Accurate assessment of language may turn out to be one of the most reliable predictors of the stages of Alzheimer's disease and provides important insights into the cerebral organization of language, semantic access, relationship of semantic and episodic memory and the pathophysiology of the disease.

Type
Neuropsychological Challenges
Information
Canadian Journal of Neurological Sciences , Volume 13 , Issue S4 , November 1986 , pp. 415 - 418
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Neurological Sciences Federation 1986

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