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Frontotemporal dementia classification and neuropsychiatry.
Tiffany W Chow1, Bruce L Miller, Kyle Boone
1Rancho Los Amigos/USC Alzheimer's Disease Center, Downey 90242, USA. tchow@usc.edu
The Neurologist
|June 14, 2003
Summary
Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) presents with behavioral or language changes. Neuropsychiatric symptoms like disinhibition and depression are common in both FTD types over time.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Neurology
Background:
- Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is a neurodegenerative syndrome affecting frontal or temporal lobes.
- FTD manifests in various clinical phenotypes, including primary progressive aphasias and behavioral variants with prominent changes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To describe the clinical progression of neuropsychiatric symptoms in patients with frontotemporal dementia.
- To compare symptom progression between behavioral and language presentations of FTD.
Main Methods:
- The study analyzed clinical progression in 62 behavioral and 30 language presentations of FTD.
- Neuropsychiatric symptoms were tracked over the course of illness.
Main Results:
- Disinhibition and depression emerged as common symptoms in both FTD groups.
- Behavioral presentations of FTD showed a higher incidence of apathy and disinhibition.
Conclusions:
- Language presentations of FTD exhibit a delayed onset of distinct neuropsychiatric changes but eventually align with behavioral phenotypes.
- Clinicians should anticipate neuropsychiatric changes in all FTD patients, inform families, and consider symptomatic treatment.