Frontotemporal Dementia: Correlations Between Psychiatric Symptoms and Pathology.

ABSTRACT: OBJECTIVE:The pathology of frontotemporal dementia, termed frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD), is characterized by distinct molecular classes of aggregated proteins, the most common being TAR DNA-binding protein-43 (TDP-43), tau, and fused in sarcoma (FUS). With a few exceptions, it is currently not possible to predict the underlying pathology based on the clinical syndrome. In this study, we set out to investigate the relationship between pathological and clinical presentation at single symptom level, including neuropsychiatric features. METHODS:The presence or absence of symptoms from the current clinical guidelines, together with neuropsychiatric features, such as hallucinations and delusions, were scored and compared across pathological groups in a cohort of 150 brain donors. RESULTS:Our cohort consisted of 68.6% FTLD donors (35.3% TDP-43, 28% tau, and 5.3% FUS) and 31.3% non-FTLD donors with a clinical diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia and a different pathological substrate, such as Alzheimer's disease (23%). The presence of hyperorality points to FTLD rather than non-FTLD pathology (p

SUBMITTER: Scarioni M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7318614 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature