Clinical trial NCT00537004: Language in Primary Progressive Aphasia
Official title: Asymmetric Neurodegeneration and Language in Primary Progressive Aphasia
Study type: OBSERVATIONAL
Overall status: RECRUITING
Conditions: Primary Progressive Aphasia
Keywords: primary progressive aphasia
frontotemporal dementia
semantic dementia
progressive nonfluent aphasia
progressive aphasia
frontotemporal lobar degeneration
Lead sponsor: Northwestern University
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: National Institute on Aging (NIA)
First posted: 2007-09-28
Enrollment: 500
Sex: ALL
Standard ages: CHILD
ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Observational model: COHORT
Time perspective: PROSPECTIVE
Sampling method: NON_PROBABILITY_SAMPLE
Study population: Participants with PPA will be recruited from the Northwestern University Alzheimer's Disease Center Core registry, the Northwestern University Neurobehavior and Memory Clinic, and from those who contact the center that are interested in PPA research.

Brief summary: The purpose of this study is to further define the neurological and linguistic deterioration in primary progressive aphasia.

Detailed description: The Language in Primary Progressive Aphasia (PPA) aims to understand the behavioral, anatomical and physiological changes in people with PPA throughout the course of the illness. The researchers in this study want to increase awareness of PPA, educate others about this unique disorder, and to encourage more research to eventually develop therapies.

During the three-day research program, participants will be asked to undergo neuropsychological testing (paper and pencil tests that evaluate cognition), advanced imaging (MRI and PET), cognitive experiments, and other computer and language testing batteries. Participants may be asked to return every two years to complete the same measures.

For participants not living near Chicago, IL, flights and accommodations (for both the person with PPA and their companion) will be covered by the study.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Diagnosis of primary progressive aphasia
* Right-handed
* Native English speaker
* Visual acuity of 20/30 corrected
* Adequate hearing to follow conversation
* Safe for an MRI scan

Exclusion Criteria:

* Left-handedness
* Claustrophobia
* Presence of significant medical illness that initially or in the future could interfere with continued participation in the study

Primary outcomes:
measure: Neuropsychological variables
timeFrame: Immediately after testing and at two years post-testing
Secondary outcomes:
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Chicago
country: United States
facility: Northwestern University
state: Illinois
Study officials:
affiliation: Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
name: Marsel Mesulam, MD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
citation: Mesulam MM. Slowly progressive aphasia without generalized dementia. Ann Neurol. 1982 Jun;11(6):592-8. doi: 10.1002/ana.410110607.
citation: Weintraub S, Rubin NP, Mesulam MM. Primary progressive aphasia. Longitudinal course, neuropsychological profile, and language features. Arch Neurol. 1990 Dec;47(12):1329-35. doi: 10.1001/archneur.1990.00530120075013.
citation: Mesulam MM, Coventry C, Kuang A, Bigio EH, Mao Q, Flanagan ME, Gefen T, Sridhar J, Geula C, Zhang H, Weintraub S, Rogalski EJ. Memory Resilience in Alzheimer Disease With Primary Progressive Aphasia. Neurology. 2021 Feb 9;96(6):e916-e925. doi: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000011397. Epub 2021 Jan 13.