Semantic Dementia: A Mini-Review

At present there are about 47.5 million people having different types of dementia and by 2030 this number would reach 75.6 million. This obviously brings about a serious social and economic burden for people who take care for those with any kind of dementia. The purpose of this article is to explore only semantic dementia (SD), more specifically called semantic variant of primary progressive aphasia, as one of the forms of frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and provide the latest information on its diagnosis and treatment which play a significant role in the maintenance of quality of life of both patients and their caregivers. Especially unimpaired communication is one of the key factors in the relationship between the patients and their caregivers. The methods used for this mini review include a literature review of available sources found in the world's acknowledged databases such as Web of Science, PubMed, Springer and Scopus from 2000 to 2015; and a comparison and evaluation of the selected studies. The findings of this mini review show that FTD, respectively SD, is a serious neurodegenerative disorder which has fatal consequences for the affected patients. In addition, the findings also indicate that there are not many possibilities of pharmacological treatment for semantic dementia and therefore more attention should be paid to alternative, non-pharmacological approaches. Although semantic dementia is a relatively rare neurodegenerative disorder if compared with other types of dementia, it has an irreversible impact on patient's and his/her caregiver's life in terms of quality.