Symptoms of frontotemporal dementia

Frontotemporal dementia is a very common disease among middle-aged and elderly people. Patients experience great changes in language, behavior, and personality. The highest stage of onset is at the age of 60, and it is very common among women. The occurrence of this disease has a great impact on patients and their families. It must be treated in time to avoid causing great harm to the patient. Everyone should understand the symptoms of frontotemporal dementia.

Frontotemporal dementia is a very common disease among the elderly. Although elderly patients will not feel anything due to this disease, it has a great impact on their families. Everyone should understand the symptoms of frontotemporal dementia in time and seek treatment as soon as possible, which will increase the chance of recovery.

Clinical manifestations

Insidious onset, slow progression. Personality and emotional changes appear early, such as irritability, anger, stubbornness, indifference and depression; behavioral abnormalities gradually appear, such as inappropriate behavior, indifference to things and impulsive behavior. Kluver-Bucy syndrome may occur, with symptoms such as dullness, indifference, rapid changes in vision and thinking, excessive oral activity, bulimia, obesity, putting anything in the mouth to test, accompanied by forgetfulness, aphasia, etc. Inability to think, few words, poor vocabulary, stereotyped and echolalia of speech or even mutism, abnormal body sensations and fragmentary delusions, etc.

In the early stage of the disease, sucking reflex and strong grasping reflex can be seen, while in the late stage, myoclonus, pyramidal tract signs and Parkinson's syndrome may appear.

diagnosis

There is no unified diagnostic standard for frontotemporal dementia and Pick's disease. The following standards can be used as a reference:

1. Middle-aged and elderly people (usually 50 to 60 years old) slowly develop personality changes, emotional changes and inappropriate behavior in the early stages, and gradually develop behavioral abnormalities, such as Klüver-Bucy syndrome.

2. Speech disorders, which appear in the early stages such as reduced speech, poor vocabulary, stereotyped language and echolalia, followed by obvious aphasia. Early calculation ability is preserved, memory impairment is mild, and visual-spatial orientation is relatively preserved.

3. In the late stage, intellectual decline, amnesia, urinary and fecal incontinence, and mutism may occur.

4. CT and MRI show asymmetric atrophy of the frontal and/or temporal lobes.

5. Pathological examination revealed Pick bodies and Pick cells.

If 1 to 4 items are present and other dementia diseases are excluded, the patient can be clinically diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia. If there is a family history and genetic examination reveals Tau protein gene mutation, the diagnosis can be confirmed. If 1 to 5 items are present, the patient can be diagnosed with Pick's disease. The absence of Pick bodies and Pick cells is the main pathological distinguishing point between frontotemporal dementia and Pick disease.

Understanding the symptoms of frontotemporal dementia is also helpful for the treatment of the disease. When we reach middle and old age, we should be able to prevent some common diseases in time. Especially the elderly are prone to dementia. If the signs of dementia are found, we should be able to seek treatment in time to avoid serious dementia from having a great impact on the patient and the entire family.