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Revue de neuropsychologie

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The logopenic variant of primary progressive aphasia: state of knowledge and clinical controversies Volume 10, issue 4, Octobre-Novembre-Décembre 2018

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Authors
1 Université Laval,
Faculté de médecine,
Département de réadaptation,
Programme d’orthophonie,
Pavillon F.-Vandry,
Québec, QC, G1K 7P4,
Canada
2 Centre de recherche CERVO,
Institut universitaire en santé mentale de Québec,
Québec, QC,
Canada
* Correspondance

The newly identified logopenic variant of primary progressive aphasia (lvPPA) is far from being unanimously accepted among the clinical and scientific community. The objective of the present literature review is to provide an update on the characteristics allowing the differential diagnosis of lvPPA, as well as to raise the issues related to consensual and controversial elements related to the specificity of its clinical features. Nineteen articles have been retrieved through a systematic search in PubMed, PsycINFO et Current Contents. The aims pursued in these articles as well as their research angles are highly varied. Some relate to diagnostic criteria while others are rather intended to differentiate the clinical characteristics of the lvPPA from those of the two other variants of PPA or of the Alzheimer's disease. Generally, results from a number of studies suggest that the lvPPA is a distinct entity from the two other PPA variants, but its diagnostic criteria lack specificity or sensibility. A few other studies specifically addressed the differentiation between the lvPPA and Alzheimer's disease or challenged its very existence. This literature review does not allow for a clear and definitive conclusion on the characterization of the lvPPA but provides an accurate portrait of challenges related to this new clinical entity. It strongly suggests that future studies should be conducted in order to clarify and improve the distinctive characteristics of the PPA variants.

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