Post by Neo on Jan 19, 2005 21:19:12 GMT -5
Attributed to Norbert
FAQ6 - Frontal lobe dementia 06/26/04 10:29 AM
Alzheimers vs. Frontal lobe dementia
Alzheimers disease is caused by a different disease process and tends to affect memory most in the early stages. It tends to affect the occipital lobe in the beginning, so after memory problems, then there is confusion when trying to interpret the persons surroundings and what they are sensing (vision, hearing, etc).
Frontal lobe dementia affects the front of the brain where logical thinking and personality is controlled. So you will see different symptoms of the disease in the early to moderate stages, with personality changes being prominent. Frontal lobe dementia still affects memory, but not as severely. Still the memory deficits are significant enough that job performance usually suffers. And it usually occurs earlier, while the person is still young enough that they are working.
Frontotemporal dementias concentrate the damage in the front of the brain and most noticable problems involve personality, executive function (thought, reasoning, emotions) and language abilities.
Problems usually seen with frontal lobe dementia - mild memory loss, loss of insight (lack of self awareness of the problem), uninhibited and socially inappropriate behavior, neglect of personal hygiene, apathy, loss of concern for their loved ones, compulsive behaviors and language problems. Visuospatial areas of the brain tend to be spared, so that the person can usually drive without getting lost.
The information I have mentions that the time of illness for the disease has a time range similar to Alzheimers.
Actually, there are many variations of frontal temporal disease. One is Picks Disease. This is most common in younger persons. In this specific disease, spherical protein deposits grow in the nerve cells, causing eventual cell death. This disease causes atrophy (shrinkage) of the entire front portion of the brain.
There are several frontal syndromes that are Tauopathies. The early symptoms differ, depending on the area of the brain initially affected most heavily.
Left side involvement causes problems with language
Right side involvement causes problems with behavior
Five major categories for FTD--
Picks Disease
FTDT-17 (FTD with parkinsonism linked to chromosome 17
specific syndromes include-
- frontal dysexecutive syndrome – patients are socially disinhibited, some become apathetic, others aggressive. Rude comments in public are common. Loss of judgement is common, early on, while they appear normal in every other aspect. This becomes very difficult for the spouse – to get a diagnosis and dealing with the person. Early avoidance of bathing is common, for instance.
(left temporal involvement causes one of the following)
- progressive nonfluent aphasia – patients early on have problems making speech, but understand quite well and can communicate with writing tablets and computers. Swallowing difficulties occur early in the illness. Cognitive decline comes later.
- sematic dementia – problems with instant recall of meanings of words. The person may speak fluently, but the speech is empty of meaning. They also have trouble understanding things spoken to them.
Corticobasal degeneration – signs of parkinsonism, poor concentration, rigidity, impaired balance, loss of ability to make purposeful movements, sudden contractions of muscles, difficulty swallowing
Progressive supranuclear palsy – motor difficulties, problems with balance and gait. involuntary closing of eyes, inability to maintain eye contact with others, difficulties with swallowing
Neurofibrillary tangle dementia
There is also a link to ALS (Lou Gehrigs) for some patients (10 to 15 percent). A certain combination of symptoms is called ALS dementia syndrome.
There is a new book out about FTD (frontotemporal dementia). It has the unfortunate title of “What if it’s not Alzheimer’s?” by Radin and Radin It deals with some dementia issues not in any other book, such as swallowing difficulties. It’s probably one of the better dementia books available.
There is also a fairly new organization for families of people with this disease. It is The Association for Frontotemporal Dementias and has a website www.ftd-picks.org
Sources of information given above -
- Family Caregiver Alliance - fact sheet: Frontotemporal Dementia www.caregiver.org/caregiver/jsp/content_node.jsp?nodeid=573
- Family Caregiver Alliance – newsletter Spring 2001 – interview with Dr. Bruce Miller
www.caregiver.org/caregiver/jsp/content_node.jsp?nodeid=679
- Alzheimer Association – newsletter “Advances”, Summer 2001 (this is a PDF file and really slow to pull up on dial-up) www.alz.org/Resources/Advances/Summer2001.pdf
- ADEAR newsletter “Connections” volume 9, number 4 (2002) Article = "Frontotemporal Dementia: Growing interest in a rare dementia" -and- "Tauopathies: New discoveries, New Knowledge"
www.alzheimers.org/pubs/conv09n4.html
(you should be able to find this last article by doing a direct web search on the title of the article. If not, search for the newsletter or web site and search within the site for the information)
Other sources of information -
from alzbrain.org, information for professionals, frontotemporal dementia factsheet
www.alzbrain.org/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=59
Some FTD/Picks disease articles are located at Alzheimers Outreach in the section on "atypical" dementias.
www.zarcrom.com/users/alzheimers/odem/pk-d.html
Other sources suggested by members
www.zarcrom.com/users/alzheimers/odem/pk5.html
www.about-dementia.com/articles/about-dementia/dementia-causes/dementia-picks-disease.php
www.brain.northwestern.edu/mdad/frontal.html
Norbert
FAQ6 - Frontal lobe dementia 06/26/04 10:29 AM
Alzheimers vs. Frontal lobe dementia
Alzheimers disease is caused by a different disease process and tends to affect memory most in the early stages. It tends to affect the occipital lobe in the beginning, so after memory problems, then there is confusion when trying to interpret the persons surroundings and what they are sensing (vision, hearing, etc).
Frontal lobe dementia affects the front of the brain where logical thinking and personality is controlled. So you will see different symptoms of the disease in the early to moderate stages, with personality changes being prominent. Frontal lobe dementia still affects memory, but not as severely. Still the memory deficits are significant enough that job performance usually suffers. And it usually occurs earlier, while the person is still young enough that they are working.
Frontotemporal dementias concentrate the damage in the front of the brain and most noticable problems involve personality, executive function (thought, reasoning, emotions) and language abilities.
Problems usually seen with frontal lobe dementia - mild memory loss, loss of insight (lack of self awareness of the problem), uninhibited and socially inappropriate behavior, neglect of personal hygiene, apathy, loss of concern for their loved ones, compulsive behaviors and language problems. Visuospatial areas of the brain tend to be spared, so that the person can usually drive without getting lost.
The information I have mentions that the time of illness for the disease has a time range similar to Alzheimers.
Actually, there are many variations of frontal temporal disease. One is Picks Disease. This is most common in younger persons. In this specific disease, spherical protein deposits grow in the nerve cells, causing eventual cell death. This disease causes atrophy (shrinkage) of the entire front portion of the brain.
There are several frontal syndromes that are Tauopathies. The early symptoms differ, depending on the area of the brain initially affected most heavily.
Left side involvement causes problems with language
Right side involvement causes problems with behavior
Five major categories for FTD--
Picks Disease
FTDT-17 (FTD with parkinsonism linked to chromosome 17
specific syndromes include-
- frontal dysexecutive syndrome – patients are socially disinhibited, some become apathetic, others aggressive. Rude comments in public are common. Loss of judgement is common, early on, while they appear normal in every other aspect. This becomes very difficult for the spouse – to get a diagnosis and dealing with the person. Early avoidance of bathing is common, for instance.
(left temporal involvement causes one of the following)
- progressive nonfluent aphasia – patients early on have problems making speech, but understand quite well and can communicate with writing tablets and computers. Swallowing difficulties occur early in the illness. Cognitive decline comes later.
- sematic dementia – problems with instant recall of meanings of words. The person may speak fluently, but the speech is empty of meaning. They also have trouble understanding things spoken to them.
Corticobasal degeneration – signs of parkinsonism, poor concentration, rigidity, impaired balance, loss of ability to make purposeful movements, sudden contractions of muscles, difficulty swallowing
Progressive supranuclear palsy – motor difficulties, problems with balance and gait. involuntary closing of eyes, inability to maintain eye contact with others, difficulties with swallowing
Neurofibrillary tangle dementia
There is also a link to ALS (Lou Gehrigs) for some patients (10 to 15 percent). A certain combination of symptoms is called ALS dementia syndrome.
There is a new book out about FTD (frontotemporal dementia). It has the unfortunate title of “What if it’s not Alzheimer’s?” by Radin and Radin It deals with some dementia issues not in any other book, such as swallowing difficulties. It’s probably one of the better dementia books available.
There is also a fairly new organization for families of people with this disease. It is The Association for Frontotemporal Dementias and has a website www.ftd-picks.org
Sources of information given above -
- Family Caregiver Alliance - fact sheet: Frontotemporal Dementia www.caregiver.org/caregiver/jsp/content_node.jsp?nodeid=573
- Family Caregiver Alliance – newsletter Spring 2001 – interview with Dr. Bruce Miller
www.caregiver.org/caregiver/jsp/content_node.jsp?nodeid=679
- Alzheimer Association – newsletter “Advances”, Summer 2001 (this is a PDF file and really slow to pull up on dial-up) www.alz.org/Resources/Advances/Summer2001.pdf
- ADEAR newsletter “Connections” volume 9, number 4 (2002) Article = "Frontotemporal Dementia: Growing interest in a rare dementia" -and- "Tauopathies: New discoveries, New Knowledge"
www.alzheimers.org/pubs/conv09n4.html
(you should be able to find this last article by doing a direct web search on the title of the article. If not, search for the newsletter or web site and search within the site for the information)
Other sources of information -
from alzbrain.org, information for professionals, frontotemporal dementia factsheet
www.alzbrain.org/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=59
Some FTD/Picks disease articles are located at Alzheimers Outreach in the section on "atypical" dementias.
www.zarcrom.com/users/alzheimers/odem/pk-d.html
Other sources suggested by members
www.zarcrom.com/users/alzheimers/odem/pk5.html
www.about-dementia.com/articles/about-dementia/dementia-causes/dementia-picks-disease.php
www.brain.northwestern.edu/mdad/frontal.html
Norbert
