Bruce Willi is shocked to learn that he has aphasia and may not even be able to speak with a pen! Physician: 2 reasons are the most common
Bruce Willi is shocked to learn that “aphasia” is mostly caused by stroke and dementia
The 67-year-old international film star Bruce Willis announced his retirement due to “aphasia”. Dr. Lin Yuhui, the attending physician at the Department of Neurology at Guangtian General Hospital, said in an interview with “healthorn” that aphasia is a clinical symptom, and the underlying causes include brain degeneration caused by “stroke” or “dementia” caused by cerebral vascular obstruction. When the left side of the brain is damaged, it may cause aphasia. In the most severe cases, the person may lose the ability to speak, and even the simplest words such as “pen” cannot be expressed.
Dr. Lin Yuhui explained that aphasia is divided into two categories. The first category is “fluent type”. Patients have normal language output ability and can pronounce words, pronounce words, and even speak and read aloud, but their language understanding ability will decline and they cannot understand what others say. Or more difficult words.
The other type is the “non-fluent type”. This type of patient’s speech will be obviously stuck, or the words cannot be spoken. Although his expression ability is not fluent, he can generally understand the meaning of other people’s words. Global aphasia includes the two aforementioned types and is the most severe form of aphasia, affecting both language comprehension and expression.
High-risk groups for aphasia? Dementia actually has something to do with genes
Who should be particularly concerned about the risk of aphasia? Dr. Lin Yuhui pointed out that those who have three high blood pressures: high blood pressure, hyperlipidemia, diabetes, or have suffered from cardiovascular disease risk factors such as atrial fibrillation are exposed to a higher risk of stroke, and are also more likely to suffer from aphasia due to cerebrovascular diseases. occur.
Another common group of people suffering from aphasia are people with dementia. Dr. Lin Yuhui said that for patients like Bruce Willi who do not have cognitive dysfunction but have aphasia, the most common clinical cause is “Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration (FTLD)”. This is one of the types of early-onset dementia with the highest proportion. Patients may start to develop the disease around the age of 50, and there is a strong family hereditary risk, which is highly related to genes.
Dr. Lin Yuhui once treated a middle-aged woman who was hospitalized for a stroke. She originally thought that her aphasia was caused by the stroke. However, aphasia caused by stroke usually remains stable and may improve with the intervention of a speech therapist. The patient’s language function continued to deteriorate. Finally, after psychological evaluation and imaging examination, it was discovered that the patient’s frontal and temporal lobe areas had asymmetrical atrophy, and it was confirmed that he had aphasia combined with frontotemporal dementia. question.
Sudden obsessive-compulsive disorder and personality changes, beware of frontotemporal lobe dementia
How is this type of frontotemporal dementia different from Alzheimer’s disease? Dr. Lin Yuhui pointed out that the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease are mostly characterized by cognitive dysfunction such as forgetfulness and memory deterioration; while frontotemporal dementia is manifested by personality changes, poor impulse control, and changes in mental emotions and personality. For example, you suddenly have obsessive-compulsive disorder tendencies, or your cheerful personality becomes depressed. This also makes clinical diagnosis in the early stages of the disease difficult to determine whether the patient has a mental illness or neurodegenerative dementia.
Dr. Lin Yuhui said that there is currently no effective fundamental treatment for frontotemporal dementia, and changes in the patient’s personality and mental state often cause difficulties in caring for family members. Treatment usually focuses on improving symptoms, such as antidepressants, antipsychotics, and mental stabilizers. As brain cells degenerate, the patient’s aphasia will gradually worsen, eventually progressing to the point where he is unable to speak or even “cannot even utter a word.”
If relatives and friends around you begin to have language expression difficulties, such as being unable to express the simple noun “pen”, or trying to speak “telephone” but can only say “used to type” and other adjectives, you should pay attention to whether it is aphasia. It can be checked by a doctor as soon as possible. If frontotemporal dementia is diagnosed, the patient and family members should understand the disease and cooperate with treatment.
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