Aphasia: early classification, evaluation of existing therapy, and novel therapeutics

Excerpt

Aphasia is a condition which many of us in clinical practice are well acquainted with. It is perhaps most commonly encountered as sequelae of cerebral infarction but also occurs in the context of a range of other neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease and frontotemporal dementia. Its impact on individual patients is frequently profound, commonly underestimated, and often exceeds that of related physical disabilities. As a consequence, an understanding of clinical presentation and management remains an important topic for neurologists. However, to date, there remain few, if any, effective treatments with therapies primarily aimed at allowing patients to adapt and manage their disabilities rather than accomplishing a fundamental change in the natural history of the disorder. The urgency to identify effective treatments is underlined by evidence for an increasing incidence of causative neurodegenerative diseases, which will ensure that the prevalence of aphasia in the population continues to rise. However, the impact of selected pharmacological treatments as well other interventions, including transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), are now being more closely evaluated, and if effective, the importance of early identification and classification will become of increasing relevance, and these interventions may also offer the prospect of delaying symptoms in some neurodegenerative disorders. …