Primary Progressive Aphasia
Symptoms, Doctors, Treatments, Advances & More

Save information for later
Sign Up

Learn About Primary Progressive Aphasia

What is the definition of Primary Progressive Aphasia?
Primary progressive aphasia (PPA) affects a person's ability to use language to communicate. This includes loss of ability to understand or express speech (aphasia). PPA is a specific type of a more general disease called frontotemporal dementia. PPA can be classified into three distinct types: progressive non-fluent aphasia (PNFA), semantic dementia (SD), and logopenic progressive aphasia (LPA). PPA is caused by a loss of tissue (atrophy) in the area of the brain that is responsible for producing language. In some cases, this loss of tissue is caused by genetic changes (genetic changes or pathogenic variants) in the GRN gene. In these cases, the disease is inherited in an autosomal dominant manner. Diagnosis of PPA is suspected when a doctor observes signs and symptoms such as progressive loss of language abilities. Imaging of the brain can confirm the diagnosis.
What are the alternative names for Primary Progressive Aphasia?
  • Primary progressive aphasia
  • Aphasia, primary progressive
  • PPA
  • Primary progressive aphasia syndrome
Who are the top Primary Progressive Aphasia Local Doctors?
Argye E. Hillis
Elite in Primary Progressive Aphasia
Elite in Primary Progressive Aphasia

Johns Hopkins Outpatient Center

601 North Caroline Street, Floor 5, Floor 5, 
Baltimore, MD 
Languages Spoken:
English
Offers Telehealth

Dr. Argye Hillis is a professor of Neurology, with joint faculty appointments in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and in Cognitive Science. She is also the Sheikh Khalifa Stroke Institute Professor of Acute Stroke Diagnoses and Management. Prior to medical training and neurology residency, Dr. Hillis worked as a speech-language pathologist, and conducted clinical research focusing on understanding and treating aphasia and hemispatial neglect. She has brought these areas of experience to impact on her clinical research in neurology, which involves cognitive and neuroimaging studies of aphasia and hemispatial neglect due to acute stroke and focal dementias. She has published extensively on these topics in journals and textbooks. Dr. Hillis is Associate Editor of Stroke and has served as Associate editor of Brain, Annals of Neurology, Aphasiology, American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, Neurocase, Cognitive Neuropsychology, and Language and Cognitive Processes and served as co-Editor and Chief of Behavioral Neurology. Dr. Hillis serves as the Executive Vice Chair of the Department of Neurology and the Director of the Cerebrovascular Division of Neurology at Johns Hopkins. Dr. Hillis is rated as an Elite provider by MediFind in the treatment of Primary Progressive Aphasia. Her top areas of expertise are Primary Progressive Aphasia, Stroke, Frontotemporal Dementia, Thrombectomy, and Gastrostomy.

Maria L. Gorno
Elite in Primary Progressive Aphasia
Elite in Primary Progressive Aphasia

Memory And Aging Center

1651 Fourth St., Suite 212, 
San Francisco, CA 
Languages Spoken:
English
Accepting New Patients

Dr. Maria Luisa Gorno-Tempini is a neurologist at the UCSF Memory and Aging Center. Her goal in patient care is to use state-of the-art cognitive and imaging techniques to diagnose and treat neurological disorders. She places a particular emphasis on managing dementia and neurodegenerative disorders. Gorno-Tempini's main research interest is progressive aphasia, impaired ability to speak or understand language. Gorno-Tempini completed her medical degree and specialty training in neurology in Italy, with a focus on behavioral neurology. She worked for three years in the Functional Imaging Laboratory at University College London, where she also earned a doctorate in imaging neuroscience. Dr. Gorno is rated as an Elite provider by MediFind in the treatment of Primary Progressive Aphasia. Her top areas of expertise are Primary Progressive Aphasia, Dementia, Frontotemporal Dementia, and Developmental Reading Disorder.

 
 
 
 
Learn about our expert tiers
Learn More
William W. Seeley
Elite in Primary Progressive Aphasia
Elite in Primary Progressive Aphasia

Memory And Aging Center

1651 Fourth St., Suite 212, 
San Francisco, CA 
Languages Spoken:
English
Accepting New Patients

Dr. William Seeley works at the UCSF Memory and Aging Center. He cares for patients with neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease and frontotemporal dementia (FTD). In 2011, Seeley was named a MacArthur Foundation Fellow for his research on understanding FTD and other neurodegenerative diseases. His research focuses on why dementias target specific nerve cell populations. The goal is to discover what makes brain tissues susceptible or resistant to degeneration and to translate these findings into new treatments. Seeley earned his medical degree at UCSF, where he also completed an internship in internal medicine. He completed a residency in neurology at the Massachusetts General and Brigham and Women's hospitals in Boston, followed by a fellowship in behavioral neurology at UCSF. Dr. Seeley is rated as an Elite provider by MediFind in the treatment of Primary Progressive Aphasia. His top areas of expertise are Frontotemporal Dementia, Dementia, Primary Progressive Aphasia, and Alzheimer's Disease.

What are the latest Primary Progressive Aphasia Clinical Trials?
University of Pennsylvania Centralized Observational Research Repository on Neurodegenerative Disease (UNICORN)

Summary: The aim of this study is to create a repository of both cross-sectional and longitudinal data, including cognitive, linguistic, imaging and biofluid biological specimens, for neurodegenerative disease research and treatment.

Match to trials
Find the right clinical trials for you in under a minute
Get started
Investigating the Benefits of Remotely-Supervised Neuromodulation In Primary Progressive Aphasia

Summary: The goal of this clinical trial is to learn whether remotely-supervised transcranial direct-current stimulation (RS-tDCS) can improve speech and language treatments for individuals with logopenic variant primary progressive aphasia (lvPPA). tDCS is a form of brain stimulation where a low-level electrical current is delivered to the brain through electrodes placed on the head. The main questions th...

Who are the sources who wrote this article ?

Published Date: May 02, 2022
Published By: Genetic and Rare Diseases Informnation Center