Neuropsychiatric Symptoms in a Cohort of Patients with Frontotemporal Dementia: Our Experience.

INTRODUCTION: About 20-50% of relatively young onset dementia belongs to frontotemporal type. Most of these patients are diagnosed as psychiatric illness as their memory and instrumental activities of daily living remain unaltered till late and most of these patients do not qualify for dementia by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-IV criteria. In this study, we analyzed the behavioral symptoms in our patients with radiologically and neuropsychologically proven as probable behavioral variant of frontotemporal dementia (FTD).

PATIENTS AND METHODS: Twenty patients qualifying the International Consensus Criteria were included and evaluated using National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences neuropsychological battery in addition to all mandatory dementia workup.

RESULTS: The mean age was 53.9 ± 9.9 years and the mean duration of illness was 2 ± 1.3 years. Sixty percent of them were <60 years. There were 9 males and 11 females. Most common heralding symptom noticed in 85% of the patients was irritability and aggression as against apathy in 100% in western studies. Memory impairment was found in only 11.1% as against 25% in western studies. Disinhibition, eating problems, stereotyped behavior, delusions, and paranoia were comparable between the study population and literature.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: There are minor variations in the neuropsychological manifestations in our patients compared to western population. Agitation and aggression are more and memory impairment is very less making the diagnosis of FTD possible only if there is a high degree of suspicion. These symptoms are less amenable for pharmacotherapy and therefore, there is a need to explore the benefits of nonpharmacological treatment options such as yoga and meditation.