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Frontotemporal dementia

Última revisión: 16 Jul 2025
Última actualización: 08 Nov 2022

Resumen

Definición

Anamnesis y examen

Principales factores de diagnóstico

  • coarsening of personality, social behavior, and habits
  • progressive loss of language fluency or comprehension
  • development of memory impairment, disorientation, or apraxias
  • progressive self-neglect and abandonment of work, activities, and social contacts
Todos los datos

Otros factores de diagnóstico

  • early age at onset
  • family history of FTD
  • altered eating habits
  • inattentiveness, puerile preoccupations, economy of effort, impulsive responding, and compulsive behaviors
  • signs of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)
  • parkinsonian symptoms
  • fasciculations, atrophy, hyperreflexia, and other signs of motor neuron disease
  • glabellar, snout, sucking, rooting, or grasp reflex
  • loss of bladder and bowel control
Todos los datos

Factores de riesgo

  • mutations in MAPT gene
  • mutations in GRN gene
  • mutations in C9orf72 gene
  • traumatic brain injury
Todos los datos

Pruebas diagnósticas

Primeras pruebas diagnósticas para solicitar

  • formal cognitive testing
  • brain MRI
  • brain CT
  • CBC
  • serum CRP
  • serum thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH)
  • free thyroxine (T4)
  • metabolic panel
  • serum BUN
  • serum creatinine
  • LFTs
  • serum vitamin B12 levels
  • serum folate levels
  • syphilis serology
  • HIV testing
  • serum enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay
Todos los datos

Pruebas diagnósticas que deben considerarse

  • brain fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG)-PET
  • brain single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT)
  • brain biopsy
  • genetic testing
  • connective tissue panel
  • serum erythrocyte sedimentation rate
Todos los datos

Pruebas emergentes

  • cerebrospinal fluid analysis

Algoritmo de tratamiento

En curso

all patients

Colaboradores

Autores

Raghava Kurup Radhakrishnan, DPM(NIMHANS), DNB(Psych), MRCPsych

Consultant Psycho-geriatrician

Waitemata District Health Board

Auckland

New Zealand

Divulgaciones

RKR declares that he has no competing interests.

Sachin Jauhari, DMH, MRCPsych, FRANZCP

Consultant Psycho-geriatrician

Waitemata District Health Board

Honorary Senior Lecturer in Old Age Psychiatry

University of Auckland

Auckland

New Zealand

Divulgaciones

SJ declares that he has no competing interests.

Agradecimientos

Dr Raghava Kurup Radhakrishnan and Dr Sachin Jauhari would like to gratefully acknowledge Dr Lawrence Whalley and Dr Chiadi Onyike, the previous contributors to this topic, and colleagues Dr Ann Boston (clinical psychologist), Dr Zara Godinovich (clinical psychologist), and Diane Ellis (clinical nurse specialist) for their suggestions.

Divulgaciones

LW, CO, AB, ZG, and DE declare that they have no competing interests.

Revisores por pares

Daniel Kaufer, MD

Director

Memory Disorders Program

Department of Neurology

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

NC

Divulgaciones

DK has received research support, speaking honoraria, and consulting fees from Eisai, Forest Laboratories, Johnson & Johnson, Medivation, Novartis, Ortho-McNeil, and Pfizer.

Bruce L. Miller, MD

Professor of Neurology

University of California

San Francisco

CA

Divulgaciones

BLM declares that he has no competing interests.

Philip Scheltens, MD, PhD

Professor of Neurology

Department of Neurology/Alzheimer Center

VU University Medical Center

Amsterdam

The Netherlands

Disclosures

PS declares that he has no competing interests.

References

Our in-house evidence and editorial teams collaborate with international expert contributors and peer reviewers to ensure that we provide access to the most clinically relevant information possible.

Key articles

Rascovsky K, Hodges JR, Knopman D, et al. Sensitivity of revised diagnostic criteria for the behavioural variant of frontotemporal dementia. Brain. 2011 Sep;134(Pt 9):2456-77.Full text  Abstract

Rascovsky K, Hodges JR, Knopman D, et al. Sensitivity of revised diagnostic criteria for the behavioural variant of frontotemporal dementia. Brain. 2011 Sep;134(Pt 9):2456-77.Full text  Abstract

Moore KM, Nicholas J, Grossman M, et al. Age at symptom onset and death and disease duration in genetic frontotemporal dementia: an international retrospective cohort study. Lancet Neurol. 2020 Feb;19(2):145-56.Full text  Abstract

Mackenzie IR, Neumann M. Molecular neuropathology of frontotemporal dementia: insights into disease mechanisms from postmortem studies. J Neurochem. 2016 Aug;138(suppl 1):54-70.Full text  Abstract

NHMRC Partnership Centre for Dealing with Cognitive and Related Functional Decline in Older People. Clinical practice guidelines and principles of care for people with dementia. Feb 2016 [internet publication].Full text

Dyer SM, Harrison SL, Laver K, et al. An overview of systematic reviews of pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions for the treatment of behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia. Int Psychogeriatr. 2018 Mar;30(3):295-309.Full text  Abstract

Buoli M, Serati M, Caldiroli A, et al. Pharmacological management of psychiatric symptoms in frontotemporal dementia: a systematic review. J Geriatr Psychiatry Neurol. 2017 May;30(3):162-9. Abstract

Trieu C, Gossink F, Stek ML, et al. Effectiveness of pharmacological interventions for symptoms of behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia: a systematic review. Cogn Behav Neurol. 2020 Mar;33(1):1-15. Abstract

Reference articles

A full list of sources referenced in this topic is available to users with access to all of BMJ Best Practice.
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