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Treatments and drugs
By Mayo Clinic staff
Medications
There are no drugs that specifically treat primary progressive aphasia. Some doctors have tried Alzheimer's drugs to treat primary progressive aphasia, but no studies have proved these drugs are effective. Experimental therapies will be available with increasing frequency in upcoming years.
Therapy
Speech and language therapy, focusing primarily on efforts to compensate for eroding language skills, can be helpful. If speaking and writing skills become limited, examples of alternate communication strategies include:
- A series of cards that display specific messages, such as common requests
- A word book, used by pointing to the words that can't be articulated
- Laptop computers containing digitally stored words and phrases or pictures
- Progressive aphasia. The Association for Frontotemporal Dementias. http://www.ftd-picks.org/frontotemporal-dementias/disorders/progressive-aphasia. Accessed May 25, 2010.
- NINDS frontotemporal dementia information page. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/picks/picks.htm. Accessed May 25, 2010.
- Degenerative diseases of the nervous system. In: Ropper AH, et al. Adams & Victor's Principles of Neurology. 9th ed. New York, N.Y.: McGraw Hill: 2009. http://www.accessmedicine.com/content.aspx?aID=3639106&searchStr=aphasia%2c+primary+progressive. Accessed May 25, 2010.
- Semantic dementia. The Association for Frontotemporal Dementias. http://www.ftd-picks.org/frontotemporal-dementias/disorders/semantic-dementia. Accessed May 25, 2010.
- Rogalski E, et al. Increased frequency of learning disability in patients with primary progressive aphasia and their first-degree relatives. Archives of Neurology. 2008;65:24.
- Haugarvoll K, et al. The genetics of frontotemporal dementia. Neurologic Clinics. 2007;25:697.
- Craft S, et al. Cognitive changes associated with normal and pathological aging. In: Halter JB, et al. Hazzard's Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology. 6th ed. New York, N.Y.: McGraw Hill; 2009. http://www.accessmedicine.com/content.aspx?aID=5122009&searchStr=aphasia%2c+primary+progressive#5122009. Accessed May 25, 2010.
- Frontotemproal dementia. The Association for Frontotemporal Dementias. http://www.ftd-picks.org/frontotemporal-dementias/ftd-overview. Accessed May 25, 2010.
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