치매는 원인 질환 및 진행 과정, 신경병리학적 소견에 따라 다양한 유형으로 분류되며(Brookshire & McNeil, 2014), 그 유 형에 따라 진행되는 양상에 차이가 있다. 치매의 유형 중 가장 발생 빈도가 높은 알츠하이머병(Alzheimer’s disease)은 퇴행 성 뇌 질환으로 인해 발병하여 서서히 퇴행되는 양상을 보인다 (Han, 2001). 알츠하이머병의 가장 두드러진 특징은 이름대기 장애로, 발병 초기부터 언어 하위 영역의 다른 능력들에 비해 심 각하게 손상된다(Bowles et al., 1987). 알츠하이머병 환자의 이 름대기 능력은 주로 대면이름대기(confrontation naming) 과제 를 통하여 살펴보았는데(Bentham et al., 1997; Bowles et al., 1987; Hodges et al., 1992; Vogle et al., 2005), 연구 결과 치매 집단이 일반 노인보다 이름대기 수행력이 유의하게 낮았다고 보 고하였다.
Purpose: Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and vascular dementia (VaD) are representative dementia types that account for more than 70% to 80% of all dementia. However, these two types of dementia have different deterioration patterns as dementia progresses. This study conducted confrontation naming and verbal fluency tasks among AD and VaD patients diagnosed as the mild or moderate stages. Methods: 20 patients with AD (10 mild, 10 moderate), 20 patients with VaD (10 mild, 10 moderate), and 10 normal elderly persons performed the Korean version-Boston Naming Test and verbal fluency tasks (semantic and phonemic). Results: Patients with AD and VaD showed significantly lower performance in confrontation naming, semantic verbal fluency, and phonemic verbal fluency tasks than normal elderly persons. However, patients with AD demonstrated marked impairment in confrontation naming and semantic verbal fluency even in the mild stage, and showed a sharp deterioration in the course of the disease from the mild to moderate stage. On the other hand, patients with VaD revealed a significant decrease in phonemic verbal fluency from the mild stage. Conclusion: As a result, AD and VaD differ in their deterioration patterns as revealed by confrontation naming and verbal fluency tasks according to the progression of the disease. Therefore, it is possible to make a more accurate and early diagnosis regarding dementia subtypes by comparing the performance of confrontation naming, semantic and phonemic verbal fluency tasks. This may also be helpful in designing an effective intervention plan by predicting the impairment pattern.
INTRODUCTION MATERIALS AND METHODS RESULTS DISCUSSIONS REFERENCES
