Frontotemporal Dementia

Overview

Journal Lancet

Publisher Elsevier

Specialty General Medicine

Date 2015 Nov 24

PMID 26595641

Citations 406

Authors

Jee Bang

Salvatore Spina

Bruce L Miller

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Frontotemporal dementia is an umbrella clinical term that encompasses a group of neurodegenerative diseases characterised by progressive deficits in behaviour, executive function, or language. Frontotemporal dementia is a common type of dementia, particularly in patients younger than 65 years. The disease can mimic many psychiatric disorders because of the prominent behavioural features. Various underlying neuropathological entities lead to the frontotemporal dementia clinical phenotype, all of which are characterised by the selective degeneration of the frontal and temporal cortices. Genetics is an important risk factor for frontotemporal dementia. Advances in clinical, imaging, and molecular characterisation have increased the accuracy of frontotemporal dementia diagnosis, thus allowing for the accurate differentiation of these syndromes from psychiatric disorders. As the understanding of the molecular basis for frontotemporal dementia improves, rational therapies are beginning to emerge.

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