Neuropathological investigation of regions responsible for semantic aphasia in frontotemporal lobar degeneration.
OBJECTIVE
Semantic dementia is a subtype of frontotemporal lobar degeneration, of which an initial symptom is semantic aphasia. Semantic dementia pathologically corresponds to atypical Pick's disease (aPiD), showing ubiq- uitin-positive inclusions similar to those in dementia with motor neuron disease (D-MND). Previous studies have not clarified the regions responsible for semantic aphasia in aPiD, and there have been no reported neuropathological studies concerning its pathomechanism.


METHODS
We neuropathologically investigated aPiD and D-MND cases with and without semantic aphasia.


RESULTS
We determined that the regions involved in the early stage of the disease course of semantic dementia were more restricted to the anterior and inferior portion of the temporal lobe on the side of the dominant hemisphere.


CONCLUSIONS
Degeneration of the temporal pole is most likely to participate in the pathomechanism of SA in semantic dementia.
Yamamoto
Ryoko
R
PET/CT Dementia Research Center, Juntendo Tokyo Koto Geriatric Medical Center, Juntendo University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan. yamamotor@juntendo.gmc.ac.jp
Iseki
Eizo
E
Higashi
Shinji
S
Murayama
Norio
N
Minegishi
Michiko
M
Sato
Kiyoshi
K
Hino
Hiroaki
H
Fujisawa
Koshiro
K
Kosaka
Kenji
K
Togo
Takashi
T
Katsuse
Omi
O
Uchikado
Hirotake
H
Furukawa
Yoshiko
Y
Yoshida
Mari
M
Hashizume
Yoshio
Y
Arai
Heii
H
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001037:Aphasia / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology* / Q000523:psychology*; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology; D003704:Dementia / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology* / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005911:Gliosis / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016472:Motor Neuron Disease / Q000473:pathology; D020774:Pick Disease of the Brain / Q000473:pathology