The Mini Linguistic State Examination (MLSE)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Development, validation and clinical application of a standardised, multilingual, Mini Linguistic State Examination (MLSE) for classifying and monitoring Primary Progressive Aphasia
IRAS ID
212182
Contact name
Peter Garrard
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
St George's, University of London
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 11 months, 30 days
Research summary
Dementia is a complex and multifaceted clinical state, which can be caused by a range of different brain pathologies including (but not limited to) Alzheimer's disease. These pathologies impair a variety of brain functions such as day-to-day memory, language and personality. When dementia begins with difficulty understanding and/or producing speech and language, the syndrome is known as primary progressive aphasia (PPA).
PPA can take a variety of forms, with three distinct patterns currently recognised: i) a reduced ability to appreciate the meaning of words or objects ('semantic dementia'); ii) problems with production of
language ('progressive nonfluent aphasia'); and iii) a syndrome with a combination of milder deficits, plus a striking inability to repeat spoken sentences ('logopenic progressive aphasia').These three syndromes overlap pathologically, making their biological basis difficult to determine during life. Because of their relative rarity (less than 5% of cases of dementia), improved understanding will benefit from international collaborations, inevitably involving patients who speak languages other than English. The principal aim of this project, therefore, is to lay the foundations of a common descriptive currency, in which the three types of PPA can be described, and patients' abilities quantified on the same scale, irrespective of the language in which they are assessed.
To achieve this, we will develop a brief language assessment instrument, which will allow the three PPA syndromes to be distinguished from one another on a common set of criteria and monitored over time. The instrument will be comprehensive yet brief, and capable of being administered by clinicians without special expertise in language assessment. It would be unrealistic to try to develop versions of the MLSE for all the world's major languages at once, so we focus on two European languages: English and Italian, the native languages of around 360 million and 60 million people, respectively.
REC name
London - Chelsea Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/LO/1735
Date of REC Opinion
10 Nov 2016
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion