Korean J Biol Psychiatry.  2016 Aug;23(3):69-79. 10.0000/kjbp.2016.23.3.69.

Frontotemporal Dementia

Affiliations
  • 1Department of Psychiatry, Jeju National University Medical School and Jeju National University Hospital, Jeju, Korea. empath0125@gmail.com

Abstract

Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is a degenerative disease characterized by the selective frontal and temporal lobe atrophy, and progressive deficits in behavior, executive function, or language. The prevalence and incidence of FTD are 15-22/100000 and 2.7-4.1/100000, respectively, in midlife. Hereditary is an important risk factor for FTD. Although there is some controversy regarding the further syndromatic subdivision of the different types of FTD, FTD is clinically classified into behavioral variant of frontotemporal dementia, semantic dementia and progressive nonfluent aphasia. FTD can be misdiagnosed as many psychiatric disorders because of similarity of the prominent behavioral features. Advances in clinical, imaging, and molecular characterization have increased the accuracy of FTD diagnosis, thus developing for the accurate differentiation of these syndromes from psychiatric disorders. We also discuss about therapeutic strategies for symptom management of FTD. Medications such as serotonin reuptake inhibitors, antipsychotics, and other novel treatments have been used in FTD with various rates of success. Further advanced research should be directed at understanding and developing new diagnostic and therapeutic modalities to improve the FTD patients' prognosis and quality of life.

Keyword

Frontotemporal dementia; Semantic dementia; Progressive nonfluent aphasia; Diagnosis; Genetics; Drug therapy

MeSH Terms

Antipsychotic Agents
Atrophy
Diagnosis
Drug Therapy
Executive Function
Frontotemporal Dementia*
Genetics
Incidence
Prevalence
Primary Progressive Nonfluent Aphasia
Prognosis
Quality of Life
Risk Factors
Serotonin Uptake Inhibitors
Temporal Lobe
Antipsychotic Agents
Serotonin Uptake Inhibitors
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