Fluent Primary Progressive Aphasia: a Pure Language Disorder Distinct from Semantic Dementia?

Fluent primary progressive aphasia (fPPA) is very often confused with semantic dementia (SD), due to the ambiguity of the latter term. We present a case of fPPA with neuropsychological and neuroimaing data, not fulfilling the diagnostic criteria for SD. The language disturbance profile is presented, resembling transcortical sensory aphasia. The results of both standardized and experimental testing show speech comprehension disturbance with preserved fluency of speech as a core deficit. The specific character of fPPA is revealed by phonological and syntactic deficits, a modality effect in both oral and written naming, and preserved single-word comprehension in contrast to disturbed comprehension of complex sentences.