The Efficacy of Word retrieval treatment in Primary Progressive Aphasia: Speech pathology services for language variant of Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD)

Background and Aim: Despite significant recent advances in understanding the basis of neurobiology in Primary Progressive Aphasia (PPA), relatively little attention has been paid to the study of interventions regarding word retrieval deficits in a variety of PPAs. The current study investigated the efficacy of word retrieval treatment in patients with PPA.Methods: In the literature review, the research evidence were selected from medical electronic databases of Science Direct, Google Scholar, PubMed, ProQuest, Web of Knowledge and Scopus. Keywords including primary progressive aphasia, intervention, treatment, word retrieval, word finding, naming, and anomia were applied. A total of 25 non-randomized studies published between 2000 and 2016 met the eligibility criteria andtherefore were included in this study. We reviewed papers that reported different forms of naming therapyfor patients with PPA, improvement in naming. Immediate gains,maintenance, and generalization effects are summarized, along with a variety ofapproaches and methodologies that can be applied to the PPA population.Conclusions:Current literature delivers encouraging evidence for clinicians wanting to provide naming therapy to patients with PPA. Treatment in word retrieval deficits in these individuals were effective in spite of the progressive nature of the disorder especially in the primary stages of the disease. The issues of generalization of naming gains beyond the clinician’s office still require more studies to determine the best conditions, designs, and patient suitability.

کلیدواژه ها:

Primary Progressive Aphasia ، Dementia ، Word retrieval deficit ، Treatment ، Speech therapy