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Temporal pole

News
  • Our new scale for measuring the types and severity of impairment in language in primary progressive aphasia (PPA) was published in July 2010 an article in the journal Neurology; click here for more information.
  • Read about our fall 2009 Boston-area FTD Caregiver Educational Conference here and schedule here. The turnout of 85 registrants (mostly family member caregivers, also friends, social workers, etc) was excellent and we all learned from each other. Plans are in process for a larger conferece in 2010--thanks to everyone who participated!
  • New work in the MGH FTD Unit reveals brain regions associated with difficulties in word comprehension, which was presented at the 2009 Society for Neuroscience meeting in Chicago and at the First Neurobiology of Language Conference.

  • Visit the new Association for FTD website

  • Other news  

Information regarding PASS scale; MGH FTD Unit

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    Background, Rationale, and Data

The Progressive Aphasia Symptom Severity (PASS) scale was developed by Daisy Sapolsky and Brad Dickerson in conjunction with collaborators Paige Nalipinski, David Caplan, Sandra Weintraub, and Marsel Mesulam. This scale is meant to provide a clinically grounded method for rating the degree of impairment in a variety of specific domains of language. We have demonstrated that the severity of impairment in specific domains of language in PPA relates to the location and severity of brain atrophy (shrinkage) in regions important for those functions. This will likely be useful in diagnosis of specific PPA subtypes. We are working now to determine whether a) this scale can be reliably used by other investigators and b) it is useful in tracking progression over time. If so, then this scale may be useful in clinical trials of various interventions aiming to maintain function in PPA.

The scientific paper can be read here. New data regarding the validity of the scale and its use in longitudinal monitoring of progressive aphasia were presented by Brad Dickerson at the 7th International Conference on Frontotemporal Dementia in Indianapolis in the session directed by Marsel Mesulam on Primary Progressive Aphasia.

    The PASS Scale and its Use
The current version of the scale (5.1) is available here here.

A questionnaire has been developed to give to patients/family members to enable them to rate the patient's symptoms in each domain. This will be available here shortly.

A description of our assessment approach has been written to guide other investigators in the use and administration of the PASS and will be posted here shortly.

Further information about the scale will be forthcoming on this website. We are developing a number of collaborative projects to investigate the multi-center reliability of the scale; please let us know if you are interested in participating in such a project.

For additional information, contact us at by email at MGHFTDUnit@partners.org or by telephone at 617-726-5571 (Daisy Sapolsky, MS, CCC-SLP, dsapolsky@partners.org), or email Brad Dickerson (bradd@nmr.mgh.harvard.edu).



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Collaborate
For health care professionals, please contact us to discuss the use of this scale or possible collaborations for following your own patients in conjunction with our program using these and other instruments.