Improvement in Cognitive Performance in a Retired Professional Football Player Male with Logopenic Progressive Aphasia
Matthew Antonucci1, 2*, Chris M. Sass1, 2 and Brian J. Sass1, 2
1 Plasticity Brain Centers, United States
2 Carrick Institute for Graduate Studies, United States
Background: A 42 year old, male, retired professional football player, with a history of “getting his bell rung many times, and thinking nothing of it”, presented with difficulty of speech, impaired short and long term memory, concentration, and a diagnosis of Logopenic Progressive Aphasia (LPA). Standard Assessment of Cognition (SAC) was scored at 16/30. Trails A (TA) and Trails B (TB) had scores of 70.7 sec and 174.8 seconds respectively; Trails B-A Difference (TB-A) was 104.1 sec. Processing Speed (PS) score was a 22/80. Simple Reaction Time (sRT) and Choice Reaction Time (cRT) latencies were 393 and 669 milliseconds respectively.
Methods: A five-day, multi-modal program of neurological rehabilitation was administered three times per day, for one-hour sessions. Each session consisted of electrical somatosensory stimulation, neuromuscular reeducation exercises, vestibular rehabilitation exercises, off-vertical axis rotation, and eye exercises.
Results: At the end of five days of treatment the patient had an increased SAC score (+25.0%), decreased TA time (-36.1%), insignificant change in TB time (- 0.4%), TB-A decreased (-23.8%), mild increase in PS score (+4.5%), decreased sRT latency (-12.7%), and decreased cRT latency (-19.6%). Both the clinician, the patient, and the spouse noticed a subjective, yet substantial increase in verbal communication.
Conclusion: Short duration, multi-modal, intensive programs of neurological rehabilitation may be a viable method to improve neurological integrity and speech in individuals with Logopenic Progressive Aphasia. The author suggests further investigation into short duration, multi-modal, intensive approaches to restoring neurological function in individuals suffering from progressive aphasia and other frontotemporal lobar degeneration.
Keywords: progressive aphasia, Cognition, Vestibular Rehabilitation, Neurorehabilitation, Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration
Conference: International Symposium on Clinical Neuroscience: TBI and Neurodegeneration, Orlando, Florida, United States, 10 Dec - 14 Dec, 2015.
Presentation Type: Case Reports for Poster Presentation
Topic: Abstracts ISCN 2016
Citation:
Antonucci M, Sass CM and Sass BJ (2015). ABSTRACT: IMPROVEMENT IN COGNITIVE PERFORMANCE IN A RETIRED PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL PLAYER MALE WITH LOGOPENIC PROGRESSIVE APHASIA. Front. Neurol. Conference Abstract: International Symposium on Clinical Neuroscience: TBI and Neurodegeneration. doi: 10.3389/conf.fneur.2015.58.00040
Received: 29 Oct 2015; Published Online: 02 Nov 2015.
Footnotes:
1 Plasticity Brain Centers, United States
2 Carrick Institute for Graduate Studies, United States
Correspondence: Dr. Matthew Antonucci, Plasticity Brain Centers, Orlando, United States, mantonucci@carrickinstitute.com