Affiliations: [a] Department of Neurology and Psychiatry, Sapienza, University of Rome, Italy
| [b] School of Psychology, University of South Wales, Pontypridd, UK
Correspondence:
[*]
Correspondence to: Alessandro Trebbastoni, MD, PhD, Department of Neurology and Psychiatry, “Sapienza”
University of Rome, Viale dell’Università 30, 00185 Rome, Italy. Tel.: +39 06 49914485; Fax: +39 06 49694216;
E-mail: [email protected].
Abstract: Orofacial apraxia (OA) as the main symptom in neurodegenerative disorders has not been yet reported. We present the case of a woman with a 22-month long history of isolated OA, studied with cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers and repeated clinical, neuropsychological, and morpho-functional evaluations. Baseline morpho-functional neuroimages revealed a left frontal operculum hypoperfusion with a widespread fronto-temporal involvement at follow-up. Cerebrospinal fluid concentrations of tau and amyloid-β were normal. The ten-year long clinical observation disclosed progressive OA worsening and the late onset of frontal functions impairment and extrapyramidal signs. The early and late stages of a neurodegenerative syndrome with OA as the main clinical feature were characterized.
