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Frontotemporal dementia

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Frontotemporal dementia

Frontotemporal dementia (FTD), also called frontotemporal degeneration disease or frontotemporal neurocognitive disorder, encompasses several types of dementia involving the progressive degeneration of the brain's frontal and temporal lobes. Men and women appear to be equally affected. FTD generally presents as a behavioral or language disorder with gradual onset. Signs and symptoms tend to appear in mid adulthood, typically between the ages of 45 and 65, although it can affect people younger or older than this. There is currently no cure or approved symptomatic treatment for FTD, although some off-label drugs and behavioral methods are prescribed.

Features of FTD were first described by Arnold Pick between 1892 and 1906. The name Pick's disease was coined in 1922. This term is now reserved only for the behavioral variant of FTD, in which characteristic Pick bodies and Pick cells are present. These were first described by Alois Alzheimer in 1911. Common signs and symptoms include significant changes in social and personal behavior, disinhibition, apathy, blunting and dysregulation of emotions, and deficits in both expressive and receptive language.

Each FTD subtype is relatively rare. FTDs are mostly early onset syndromes linked to frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD), which is characterized by progressive neuronal loss predominantly involving the frontal or temporal lobes, and a typical loss of more than 70% of spindle neurons, while other neuron types remain intact. The three main subtypes or variant syndromes are a behavioral variant (bvFTD) previously known as Pick's disease, and two variants of primary progressive aphasia (PPA): semantic (svPPA) and nonfluent (nfvPPA). Two rare distinct subtypes of FTD are neuronal intermediate filament inclusion disease (NIFID) and basophilic inclusion body disease (BIBD). Other related disorders include corticobasal syndrome (CBS or CBD), and FTD with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is an early onset disorder that mostly occurs between the ages of 45 and 65, but can begin earlier, and in 20–25% of cases onset is later. Men and women appear to be equally affected. It is the most common early presenting dementia. FTD is the second most prevalent type of early onset dementia after Alzheimer's disease.

The International Classification of Diseases recognizes the disease as causative to disorders affecting mental and behavioural aspects in humans. Dissociation from family, compulsive buying disorder (oniomania), vulgar speech characteristics, screaming, and inability to control emotions, behavior, personality, or temperament are characteristic social display patterns. The gradual onset and progression of subtle changes in behavior or language deficits commonly leads to a long delay between the onset of symptoms and time of presentation to a neurologist.

The main subtypes of frontotemporal dementia are behavioral variant FTD (bvFTD), two variants of primary progressive aphasiasemantic dementia (svPPA) and progressive nonfluent aphasia (nfvPPA) – as well as FTD associated with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (FTD–ALS or FTD-MND). Two distinct rare subtypes are neuronal intermediate filament inclusion disease (NIFID), and basophilic inclusion body disease (BIBD). Related disorders are corticobasal syndrome (CBS or CBD), and progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP).

Behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (BvFTD) was previously known as Pick's disease, and is the most common of the FTD types. BvFTD is diagnosed four times as often as the PPA variants. Behavior can change in BvFTD in either of two ways—it can change to being impulsive and disinhibited, acting in socially unacceptable ways; or it can change to being listless and apathetic. About 12–13% of people with bvFTD develop motor neuron disease.

The Pick bodies which are present in behavioral variant FTD are spherical inclusion bodies found in the cytoplasm of affected cells. They consist of tau fibrils as a major component together with a number of other protein products including ubiquitin and tubulin.

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