title: Semantic dementia versus nonfluent progressive aphasia: neuropsychological characterization and differentiation.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Early progressive nonfluent aphasia (PNFA) may be difficult to differentiate from semantic dementia (SD) in a nonspecialist setting. There are descriptions of the clinical and neuropsychological profiles of patients with PNFA and SD but few systematic comparisons.
  
  
  METHODS
  We compared the performance of groups with SD (n=27) and PNFA (n=16) with comparable ages, education, disease duration, and severity of dementia as measured by the Clinical Dementia Rating Scale on a comprehensive neuropsychological battery. Principal components analysis and intergroup comparisons were used.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A 5-factor solution accounted for 78.4% of the total variance with good separation of neuropsychological variables. As expected, both groups were anomic with preserved visuospatial function and mental speed. Patients with SD had lower scores on comprehension-based semantic tests and better performance on verbal working memory and phonological processing tasks. The opposite pattern was found in the PNFA group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Neuropsychological tests that examine verbal and nonverbal semantic associations, verbal working memory, and phonological processing are the most helpful for distinguishing between PNFA and SD.
authors.affiliation: Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology Unit, Department of Neurology, University of São Paulo, School of Medicine (FMUSP) and Federal University of ABC (UFABC), Mathematics, Computing and Cognition Center (CMCC), Brazil. carthery@uol.com.br
authors.forename: Maria Teresa
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Carthery-Goulart
authors.forename: Jonathan A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Knibb
authors.forename: Karalyn
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Patterson
authors.forename: John R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Hodges
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis; D032882:Comprehension / Q000502:physiology; D057174:Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D057178:Primary Progressive Nonfluent Aphasia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D012660:Semantics