Fluent Aphasia in Telugu: A Case Comparison Study of Semantic Dementia and Stroke Aphasia

Abstract

This study presents two cases with fluent aphasia in Telugu with semantic dementia and post-stroke fluent aphasia. Comparable scores were obtained on the conventional neuropsychological and language tests that were administered on the two cases. Both cases demonstrated fluent, grammatical and well-articulated speech with little content, impaired comprehension, and anomia. When conventional tests were supplemented with detailed testing of semantic memory and combined with an exhaustive history, a differential diagnosis was effectively made. It was possible to determine the type of word retrieval deficits in both cases. While the person with post-stroke fluent aphasia demonstrated an access type of word retrieval deficit, the person with semantic dementia demonstrated a degradation of the semantic system itself. Even though the two fluent aphasics were seemingly similar, marked differences in the type of problem and presenting symptoms were noticed. The study aims to elucidate the differential nature of fluent aphasia in these two disorders.