Nonoptic aphasia

Aphasia with preserved confrontation naming in Alzheimer's disease

Shuren, Jeffrey MD
Geldmacher, David MD
Heilman, Kenneth M. MD

From the Center for Neuropsychological Studies, the Department of Neurology, University of Florida College of Medicine, and the Neurology Service, Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Gainesville, FL.

Address correspondence (reprints not available) to Dr. Jeffrey Shuren, Department of Neurology, University of Cincinnati Medical Center, 4010 Medical Sciences Building (ML 525), 231 Bethesda Avenue, Cincinnati, OH 45267-0525.

Supported in part by the Medical Research Service of the Department of Veterans Affairs and by the University of Florida Memory Disorders Clinic.

Received November 3, 1992. Accepted for publication in final form February 3, 1993.

Neurology 43(10):p 1900-1907, October 1993.

Article abstract

Patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) frequently exhibit anomia early in the course of the disease. Current theories of naming describe lexical retrieval in visual confrontation naming as requiring processing through the semantic system before lexical access. We report on three patients with AD who demonstrated severely impoverished spontaneous speech, impaired list generation, but preserved visual confrontation naming. Extensive investigation of one of these patients revealed an impairment of semantic knowledge. Our results support previous theories that there are two routes to visual naming, one via the semantic system and one directly from the internal visual representation to the lexicon. We labeled this aphasia resulting from an impaired semantic system but a preserved direct route to the lexical system as “nonoptic aphasia” and suggest that it is the earliest language deficit in some patients with AD.