Frontotemporal Dementia Introduction
- Frontotemporal dementia is the most common form
of dementia in patients less than 60 years old
- Frontotemporal dementia can run in families in approximately
30% of patients
- On average, it takes three years to make the
diagnosis
- There are no therapies to reverse or stop the
progression of the illness
- Symptoms and behavior can be effectively
medically managed
- The rate of progression of the illness is rapid,
but can vary from 2 to 10 years
Frontotemporal Dementia Clinical Features
- Frontotemporal dementia affects social behavior
and ability to think and communicate, but in a small proportion of patients,
movement and walking can also be affected
- There are three clinical subtypes
- Brain imaging can be helpful in characterizing
which subtype of frontotemporal dementia is most likely
Behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia
- Most common subtype
- Characterized by changes in behavior
- Apathy, or lack of engagement, which may look
like boredom or laziness
- Problems with setting and achieving goals
- Difficulty with making decisions
- Socially inappropriate behavior like laughing
when hearing a sad story or making sexual remarks in public
- Lack of emotional connection; in other words, loss
of a deep emotional understanding of one’s family and friends
- Lack of empathy which may look like a loss of
compassion or inability to be supportive to others
- Excessively repeating words during conversations
- Exactly repeating what someone else is saying
- Repetitive simple behaviors like finger tapping,
picking at objects, or pacing
- Changes in diet including increased appetite or binge
eating, especially of sugary foods
Semantic variant primary progressive aphasia
- Characterized by difficulty with speaking and
writing
- Not knowing the meaning of words
- Inability to get the point across
- Not knowing the names of everyday objects like a
pen, phone, or pants
- Normal speech, not stop and go speech
- Grammatically correct sentences
Non-fluent variant primary progressive aphasia
- Also characterized by difficulty with speaking and writing, but:
- Speech is not grammatically correct, like in the following example:
“Barbara and Joe decide go on a cruises and was a couple.”
- Stop and go (halting) speech
Frontotemporal Dementia Further Reading
Large study explores age of onset of frontotemporal dementia by genetics, family history | National Institute on Aging (nih.gov)
Frontotemporal dementia | Genetic and Rare Diseases Information Center (GARD) – an NCATS Program (nih.gov)
