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Posterior Cortical Atrophy: Review of the Recent Literature

  • Neuro-Ophthalmology (A Kawasaki, Section Editor)
  • Published:
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Abstract

Posterior cortical atrophy (PCA) is a group of neurodegenerative dementing disorders characterized by initial predominant visual complaints followed by progressive decline in cognitive functions. The visuospatial and visuoperceptual defects arise from the dysfunction of, respectively, the dorsal (occipito-parietal) and the ventral (occipito-temporal) streams. Clinical symptoms, results of neuropsychological examination, and findings of posterior cerebral atrophy and/or posterior hypoperfusion/hypometabolism contribute to the diagnosis. However, owing to the insidious onset of PCA and the non-specificity of initial symptoms, the diagnosis is often delayed. Specific etiologies include Alzheimer’s disease, dementia with Lewy bodies, subcortical gliosis, corticobasal degeneration, and prion-associated diseases. Alzheimer’s disease accounts for at least 80 % of PCA cases. Recent research has concentrated on better defining the clinical presentation of PCA, improving neuroimaging analysis, testing new neuroimaging techniques, and developing biological measurements. Selected recent papers on PCA are reviewed in this article.

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References

Papers of particular interest, published recently, have been highlighted as: • Of importance

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François-Xavier Borruat declares that he has no conflict of interest.

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This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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  1. Department of Ophthalmology, University of Lausanne, Jules Gonin Eye Hospital, Neuro-Ophthalmology Unit, Avenue de France 15, 1004, Lausanne, Switzerland

    François-Xavier Borruat

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  1. François-Xavier Borruat
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Correspondence to François-Xavier Borruat.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Neuro-Ophthalmology

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Borruat, FX. Posterior Cortical Atrophy: Review of the Recent Literature. Curr Neurol Neurosci Rep 13, 406 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11910-013-0406-8

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