title: Kana versus kanji in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: a clinicoradiological study of writing errors.
abstract: The frequency of writing errors in samples from 14 patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis without manifest aphasia were compared with clinical background and indices from X-ray computed tomography, including the Evans' index (EI) and the cella media index (CMI). The inferior horn index (IHI) was measured as the maximal width of the short axis of the bilateral inferior horn of the lateral ventricles/the maximum transverse distance between the two internal laminae. Overt dementia and disinhibitive behavioral changes were significantly associated with frequency of total errors (p = 0.0280) and kanji errors (p = 0.0025). Significant associations were found for the EI with kana errors (p = 0.0481) and for the IHI with kanji errors (p = 0.0052). Preferential involvement of kana and kanji may reflect involvement of language-related areas in the frontotemporal lobes with frontal lobe or temporal lobe predominance.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Showa University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan. h_ichikawa0527@yahoo.co.jp
authors.forename: Hiroo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ichikawa
authors.forename: Sotaro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hieda
authors.forename: Hideki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ohno
authors.forename: Yohei
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ohnaka
authors.forename: Yuuki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shimizu
authors.forename: Masashi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nakajima
authors.forename: Mitsuru
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kawamura
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000690:Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis / Q000150:complications* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011596:Psychomotor Disorders / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000209:etiology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods; D014956:Writing