*Frontotemporal dementia (FTD)
*Progressive non-fluent aphasia (PNFA)
*Semantic dementia (SF)
The three FTLD subtypes are clinical syndromes that are anatomically based and do not have predictable microscopic pathologies.
Previously believed to be rare, frontotemporal dementia has been recognized as a common cause of dementia in younger individuals.
First described by Arnold Pick in 1892 as frontal lobe dementia, frontotemporal dementia was neglected for almost a century before remerging as a clinically important neuro-degenerative disease.
Frontotemporal dementia is a form of presenile dementia that present with a clinical picture suggestive of progressive selective damage to the brain’s frontal region, but without the pathological or chemical hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease.
In contrast to Alzheimer’s disease, which is a progressive ‘cognitive’ disorder, frontotemporal dementia is a progressive ‘behavioral dementia characterized by the occurrence of neuropsychiatric features early in its clinical course.
Pathologic changes identified in frontotemporal dementia include gliosis, spongiosis, and neuronal loss.
The clinical presentation of frontotemporal dementia can be behavioral changes (orbitofrontal, media frontal and /or anterior temporal lobe), executive function impairment (dorsolateral frontal) and/or language impairment giving rise to various clinical subtypes.
Frontotemporal dementia (FTD)
