Brain Advance Access published online on January 5, 2005
Brain, doi:10.1093/brain/awh348
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1 MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, Cambridge, UK
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. Summary Early and severe memory impairment is generally held to be an exclusion criterion for the clinical diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia (FTD). However, clinical experience suggests that some patients with otherwise typical FTD can be amnesic from presentation, or even present solely with amnesia. A review of severe amnesia at presentation in patients with pathologically proven FTD is therefore warranted. The present study examined the records of all patients in the joint Cambridge-Sydney neuropathological series of patients with dementia and a pathological diagnosis of FTD to identify those for whom memory complaints were dominant at presentation. Eight of 71 patients met these criteria. For two patients, memory loss was the only complaint; for one patient, memory loss was accompanied by personality change; for two patients, memory loss was accompanied by prominent dysexecutive symptoms; and for three patients, memory loss was accompanied by apathy but no other behavioural changes. In seven patients local specialist teams initially diagnosed Alzheimer's disease; four patients entered anticholinesterase drug trials. All eight later developed behavioural features: in four, the diagnosis was revised to FTD, while in four the diagnosis of FTD was made only on neuropathological examination after death. In conclusion, severe amnesia at presentation in FTD is commoner than previously thought and the clinical consensus criteria for the diagnosis of FTD may need to be revised. The underlying basis of the memory impairments in patients with FTD may be heterogeneous, with different explanations in different subgroups.
Received May 25, 2004
Revised September 9, 2004
Accepted October 4, 2004
Article
Pathologically proven frontotemporal dementia presenting with severe amnesia
2 University Department of Neurology, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, UK
3 Department of Neuropathology, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, UK
4 Prince of Wales Medical Research Institute, University of New South Wales, Randwick, New South Wales, Australia
5 Centre for Education and Research on Ageing, University of Sydney, Concord Hospital, Concord, New South Wales, Australia
6 MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, Cambridge, UK; University Department of Neurology, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, UK
John Hodges, E-mail: john.hodges{at}mrc-cbu.cam.ac.uk
Abstract 
CiteULike 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  M Hornberger, B P Shelley, C M Kipps, O Piguet, and J R Hodges Can progressive and non-progressive behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia be distinguished at presentation? J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatry, June 1, 2009; 80(6): 591 - 593. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 O. Piguet, M. Hornberger, B. P. Shelley, C. M. Kipps, and J. R. Hodges Sensitivity of current criteria for the diagnosis of behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia Neurology, February 24, 2009; 72(8): 732 - 737. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
H. Bian, J. C. Van Swieten, S. Leight, L. Massimo, E. Wood, M. Forman, P. Moore, I. de Koning, C. M. Clark, S. Rosso, et al. CSF biomarkers in frontotemporal lobar degeneration with known pathology Neurology, May 6, 2008; 70(19_Part_2): 1827 - 1835. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 B. J. Hallam, N. D. Silverberg, A. K. LaMarre, I. R. A. Mackenzie, and H. H. Feldman Clinical Presentation of Prodromal Frontotemporal Dementia American Journal of Alzheimer's Disease and Other Dementias, January 1, 2008; 22(6): 456 - 467. [Abstract] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 M. Grossman, D. J. Libon, M. S. Forman, L. Massimo, E. Wood, P. Moore, C. Anderson, J. Farmer, A. Chatterjee, C. M. Clark, et al. Distinct Antemortem Profiles in Patients With Pathologically Defined Frontotemporal Dementia Arch Neurol, November 1, 2007; 64(11): 1601 - 1609. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 S. Alladi, J. Xuereb, T. Bak, P. Nestor, J. Knibb, K. Patterson, and J. R. Hodges Focal cortical presentations of Alzheimer's disease Brain, October 1, 2007; 130(10): 2636 - 2645. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
J. Barnes, J. L. Whitwell, C. Frost, K. A. Josephs, M. Rossor, and N. C. Fox Measurements of the Amygdala and Hippocampus in Pathologically Confirmed Alzheimer Disease and Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration. Arch Neurol, October 1, 2006; 63(10): 1434 - 1439. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
K. A. Josephs, J. E. Parisi, D. S. Knopman, B. F. Boeve, R. C. Petersen, and D. W. Dickson Clinically undetected motor neuron disease in pathologically proven frontotemporal lobar degeneration with motor neuron disease. Arch Neurol, April 1, 2006; 63(4): 506 - 512. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|