Weill-Chounlamountry A, Alves J, Pradat-Diehl P. Non-pharmacological intervention for posterior cortical atrophy. World J Clin Cases 2016; 4(8): 195-201 [PMID: 27574605 DOI: 10.12998/wjcc.v4.i8.195]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Jorge Alves, PhD, Center for Evidence-Based NeuroRehabilitation, CEREBRO - Brain Health Center, Rua Nova de Santa Cruz 317, 4710-409 Braga, Portugal. jorge.alves@cerebro.org.pt
Research Domain of This Article
Allergy
Article-Type of This Article
Editorial
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Agnès Weill-Chounlamountry, Pascale Pradat-Diehl, Département de Médecine Physique et de Réadaptation, AP-HP Hôpitaux Pitié-Salpêtrière Charles Foix, F-75013 Paris, France
Agnès Weill-Chounlamountry, GRC-UPMC, Handicap Cognitif et Réadaptation, F-75013 Paris, France
Jorge Alves, Center for Evidence-Based NeuroRehabilitation, CEREBRO - Brain Health Center, 4710-409 Braga, Portugal
Author contributions: Weill-Chounlamountry A conceptualized the work, performed the article search, collected the data and drafted the initial version of the manuscript; Alves J and Pradat-Diehl P contributed to further revisions of the paper; all authors read and approved the final version of the manuscript before submission.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Jorge Alves, PhD, Center for Evidence-Based NeuroRehabilitation, CEREBRO - Brain Health Center, Rua Nova de Santa Cruz 317, 4710-409 Braga, Portugal. jorge.alves@cerebro.org.pt
Telephone: +351-253-137687 Fax: +351-253-137687
Received: January 13, 2016 Peer-review started: January 15, 2016 First decision: April 15, 2016 Revised: April 26, 2016 Accepted: May 17, 2016 Article in press: May 27, 2016 Published online: August 16, 2016
Abstract
Posterior cortical atrophy (PCA) is a rare neurodegenerative condition characterized by progressive visual-perceptual deficits. Although the neurocognitive profile of PCA is a growing and relatively well-established field, non-pharmacological care remains understudied and to be widely established in clinical practice. In the present work we review the available literature on non-pharmacological approaches for PCA, such as cognitive rehabilitation including individual cognitive exercises and compensatory techniques to improve autonomy in daily life, and psycho-education aiming to inform people with PCA about the nature of their visual deficits and limits of cognitive rehabilitation. The reviewed studies represented a total of 7 patients. There is a scarcity of the number of studies, and mostly consisting of case studies. Results suggest non-pharmacological intervention to be a potentially beneficial approach for the partial compensation of deficits, improvement of daily functionality and improvement of quality of life. Clinical implications and future directions are also highlighted for the advancement of the field, in order to clarify the possible role of non-pharmacological interventions, and its extent, in PCA.
Core tip: Non-pharmacological interventions remain scarcely explored as therapies for posterior cortical atrophy (PCA). Preliminary evidence suggests the potential of cognitive rehabilitation and psychoeducation. There is a need for randomized controlled trials evaluating the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of non-pharmacological approaches in PCA.
