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Frontotemporal Dementia

 

  • AKA Pick’s disease
  • Symptoms develop as a result of degeneration of the frontotemporal regions of the brain
  • Rare cause of dementia but accounts for a larger proportion of cases in <65s
  • Symptoms
    • Loss of inhibition, empathy and motivation
    • Development of repetitive behaviour, addictive traits
    • Worsening speech impairment with word-finding and grammatical errors
    • Loss of understanding of word-meaning
    • In early stages, frontotemporal dementia patients have relatively preserved short-term memory compared to Alzheimer’s
    • In later stages, whole brain atrophy gives a similar picture to Alzheimer’s
  • MOCA shows intact memory and recall, but issues with word-finding and calculations

 

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