User:Mr. Ibrahem/Frontotemporal dementia
Medical condition / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) encompasses several types of dementia involving the frontal and temporal lobes.[3][6] The primary symptoms generally involve behavior or language.[6] This may include personality changes, lack of emotions, repetitive behavior, loss of vocabulary, and decreased ability to understand language.[3][4] They generally start gradually and worsen over several years.[5] Memory and motor functions often remain relatively preserved.[3]
Frontotemporal dementia | |
---|---|
Other names | Frontotemporal degeneration disease,[1] frontotemporal neurocognitive disorder[2] |
![]() | |
Brain MRI of a female of 65 years with frontotemporal dementia. Cortical and white matter atrophy of the frontal lobes is clear in all images. | |
Specialty | Psychiatry, neurology |
Symptoms | Personality changes, lack of emotions, repetitive behavior, loss of vocabulary, decreased ability to understand language[3][4] |
Usual onset | 50s and 60s[5] |
Types | Behavioral variant (bvFTD), semantic variant (svPPA), nonfluent variant (nfvPPA)[6][7] |
Causes | Unknown[8] |
Risk factors | Family history, head injury, thyroid disease[6][4] |
Diagnostic method | Based on symptoms and MRI[5] |
Differential diagnosis | Alzheimer, vascular dementia, Lewy body dementia, alcoholism[4] |
Treatment | Supportive care[5] |
Prognosis | Life expectancy 7.5 yrs[4] |
Frequency | 2 per 10,000 (45 to 65 year old)[5] |
The cause is unknown.[8] Risk factors include family history, head injury, and thyroid disease.[6][4] The underlying mechanism involves loss of neurons, primarily spindle neurons.[4][9] There are three main subtypes: behavioral variant (bvFTD) and two types of primary progressive aphasia - semantic variant (svPPA) and nonfluent variant (nfvPPA).[6][7] Related disorders include progressive supranuclear palsy, corticobasal syndrome, and FTD with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (FTD-ALS).[5]
There is no cure.[8] Management may require social supports, behavioral therapy, and speech therapy.[4] Other efforts to improve symptoms may include SSRIs, antipsychotics, and galantamine.[8] A number of treatments are under study.[4] The average life expectancy is 7.5 years after diagnosis.[4]
FTD newly affects per year about 2 per 100,000 people in their 40s, 3 per 100,000 in their 50s, and 9 per 100,000 in their 60s.[4] Before the age of 65, it is second only to Alzheimer's disease (AD) in frequency.[5] Those in their 40s to 60s are most commonly affected.[5] Males and females are affected equally frequently.[5] It was first described by Arnold Pick in 1892 and was originally called Pick's disease, a term now reserved for bvFTD.[10][8]