title: Syntactic comprehension in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
abstract: Recent neuropsychological studies of patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) have demonstrated that some patients have aphasic symptoms, including impaired syntactic comprehension. However, it is not known if syntactic comprehension disorder is related to executive and visuospatial dysfunction. In this study, we evaluated syntactic comprehension using the Syntax Test for Aphasia (STA) auditory comprehension task, frontal executive function using the Frontal Assessment Battery (FAB), visuospatial function using Raven's Coloured Progressive Matrices (RCPM), and dementia using the Hasegawa Dementia Scale-Revised (HDS-R) in 25 patients with ALS. Of the 25 patients, 18 (72%) had syntactic comprehension disorder (STA score < IV), nine (36%) had frontal executive dysfunction (FAB score < 14), six (24%) had visuospatial dysfunction (RCPM score < 24), and none had dementia (HDS-R score < 20). Nine of the 18 patients with syntactic comprehension disorder (50%) passed the FAB and RCPM. Although sample size was small, these patients had a low STA score but normal FAB and RCPM score. All patients with bulbar onset ALS had syntactic comprehension disorder. These results indicate that it might be necessary to assess syntactic comprehension in patients with bulbar onset ALS. The implications of these findings are discussed in relation to the pathological continuum of ALS.
authors.affiliation: Department of Rehabilitation, Kitasato University East Hospital, 2-1-1 Asamizodai, Minami-ku, Sagamihara, Kanagawa 252-0380, Japan.
authors.forename: Kentarou
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yoshizawa
authors.affiliation: Department of Rehabilitation, Kitasato University East Hospital, 2-1-1 Asamizodai, Minami-ku, Sagamihara, Kanagawa 252-0380, Japan.
authors.forename: Nao
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Yasuda
authors.affiliation: Department of Rehabilitation, Kitasato University East Hospital, 2-1-1 Asamizodai, Minami-ku, Sagamihara, Kanagawa 252-0380, Japan ; School of Allied Health Sciences, Kitasato University, 1-15-1 Kitasato, Minami-ku, Sagamihara, Kanagawa 252-0374, Japan.
authors.forename: Michinari
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fukuda
authors.affiliation: Department of Rehabilitation, Kitasato University East Hospital, 2-1-1 Asamizodai, Minami-ku, Sagamihara, Kanagawa 252-0380, Japan.
authors.forename: Yumi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yukimoto
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, School of Medicine, Kitasato University, 1-15-1 Kitasato, Minami-ku, Sagamihara, Kanagawa 252-0374, Japan.
authors.forename: Mieko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ogino
authors.affiliation: Department of Rehabilitation, Kitasato University East Hospital, 2-1-1 Asamizodai, Minami-ku, Sagamihara, Kanagawa 252-0380, Japan ; School of Allied Health Sciences, Kitasato University, 1-15-1 Kitasato, Minami-ku, Sagamihara, Kanagawa 252-0374, Japan.
authors.forename: Wakana
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Hata
authors.affiliation: School of Allied Health Sciences, Kitasato University, 1-15-1 Kitasato, Minami-ku, Sagamihara, Kanagawa 252-0374, Japan.
authors.forename: Ikuyo
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Ishizaka
authors.affiliation: School of Allied Health Sciences, Kitasato University, 1-15-1 Kitasato, Minami-ku, Sagamihara, Kanagawa 252-0374, Japan.
authors.forename: Mari
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Higashikawa
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000690:Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology*; D001308:Auditory Perceptual Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology*; D003704:Dementia / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology; D056344:Executive Function; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged