Behavioral Differences Between Frontotemporal Dementia and Alzheimer's Disease: A Comparison on the BEHAVE-AD Rating Scale

1998 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 155-162 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mario F. Mendez ◽  
Kent M. Perryman ◽  
Bruce L. Miller ◽  
Jeffrey L. Cummings

Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is a dementing syndrome characterized by the occurrence of neuropsychiatric features early in the clinical course. Patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) also have neuropsychiatric symptoms, but these symptoms typically emerge later in the course after the development of memory and other cognitive impairment. The BEHAVE-AD, an instrument developed to evaluate neuropsychiatric features in dementia, may help characterize the behavioral features of FTD and differentiate FTD from AD. This study evaluated BEHAVEAD results of 29 patients with the diagnosis of FTD compared to those of 29 patients with the diagnosis of probable AD of similar dementia severity. The FTD patients had significantly worse global BEHAVE-AD scores compared to the AD patients. Verbal outbursts and inappropriate activity characterized the FTD patients, and three BEHAVE-AD subscales correctly classified 69% of the patients. The assessment of neuropsychiatric symptoms with a standardized scale or inventory can help distinguish dementia patients with FTD and AD.

2009 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 101-107 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristiane Garcia da Costa Armentano ◽  
Cláudia Sellitto Porto ◽  
Sonia Maria Dozzi Brucki ◽  
Ricardo Nitrini

Abstract Executive deficits as well as deficits in episodic memory characterize the initial phases of Alzheimer Disease (AD) and are clinically correlated to neuropsychiatric symptoms and functional loss. Patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment present more problems as to inhibitory response control, switching and cognitive flexibility. Objective: To compare performance on the BADS with performance on other executive functional tests among patients with mild Alzheimer's disease, Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment (aMCI) to performance of control individuals and to examine discriminative capacity of BADS among these groups. Methods: The BADS was performed by 35 healthy controls, 13 patients with aMCI, and 16 mild probable AD patients. Besides performing the BADS, subjects underwent neuropsychological evaluation which comprised: the Dementia Rating Scale (DRS), verbal fluency by phonemic categories (F.A.S) and Concentrated Attention Test (CA). Results: There were no differences among groups by educational level, but performance differed for age (p<0.01). No difference between healthy controls and aMCI patients was found on total scores or subitems of the BADS. A significant difference was observed between aMCI and AD patients (p<0.05) and between controls and AD patients (p<0.05) on total and standard scores. Conclusions: Performance on the BADS differed between healthy individuals and mild AD patients. The BADS proved to be a sensitive method for discriminating AD from aMCI.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Adeline Su Lyn Ng ◽  
Juan Wang ◽  
Kwun Kei Ng ◽  
Joanna Su Xian Chong ◽  
Xing Qian ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) cause distinct atrophy and functional disruptions within two major intrinsic brain networks, namely the default network and the salience network, respectively. It remains unclear if inter-network relationships and whole-brain network topology are also altered and underpin cognitive and social–emotional functional deficits. Methods In total, 111 participants (50 AD, 14 bvFTD, and 47 age- and gender-matched healthy controls) underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and neuropsychological assessments. Functional connectivity was derived among 144 brain regions of interest. Graph theoretical analysis was applied to characterize network integration, segregation, and module distinctiveness (degree centrality, nodal efficiency, within-module degree, and participation coefficient) in AD, bvFTD, and healthy participants. Group differences in graph theoretical measures and empirically derived network community structures, as well as the associations between these indices and cognitive performance and neuropsychiatric symptoms, were subject to general linear models, with age, gender, education, motion, and scanner type controlled. Results Our results suggested that AD had lower integration in the default and control networks, while bvFTD exhibited disrupted integration in the salience network. Interestingly, AD and bvFTD had the highest and lowest degree of integration in the thalamus, respectively. Such divergence in topological aberration was recapitulated in network segregation and module distinctiveness loss, with AD showing poorer modular structure between the default and control networks, and bvFTD having more fragmented modules in the salience network and subcortical regions. Importantly, aberrations in network topology were related to worse attention deficits and greater severity in neuropsychiatric symptoms across syndromes. Conclusions Our findings underscore the reciprocal relationships between the default, control, and salience networks that may account for the cognitive decline and neuropsychiatric symptoms in dementia.


2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yaojing Chen ◽  
Mingxi Dang ◽  
Zhanjun Zhang

AbstractNeuropsychiatric symptoms (NPSs) are common in patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and are associated with accelerated cognitive impairment and earlier deaths. This review aims to explore the neural pathogenesis of NPSs in AD and its association with the progression of AD. We first provide a literature overview on the onset times of NPSs. Different NPSs occur in different disease stages of AD, but most symptoms appear in the preclinical AD or mild cognitive impairment stage and develop progressively. Next, we describe symptom-general and -specific patterns of brain lesions. Generally, the anterior cingulate cortex is a commonly damaged region across all symptoms, and the prefrontal cortex, especially the orbitofrontal cortex, is also a critical region associated with most NPSs. In contrast, the anterior cingulate-subcortical circuit is specifically related to apathy in AD, the frontal-limbic circuit is related to depression, and the amygdala circuit is related to anxiety. Finally, we elucidate the associations between the NPSs and AD by combining the onset time with the neural basis of NPSs.


2018 ◽  
Vol 94 (1117) ◽  
pp. 647-652 ◽  
Author(s):  
Georges Assaf ◽  
Maria Tanielian

Dementia is projected to become a global health priority but often not diagnosed in its earlier preclinical stage which is mild cognitive impairment (MCI). MCI is generally referred as a transition state between normal cognition and Alzheimer’s disease. Primary care physicians play an important role in its early diagnosis and identification of patients most likely to progress to Alzheimer’s disease while offering evidenced-based interventions that may reverse or halt the progression to further cognitive impairment. The aim of this review is to introduce the concept of MCI in primary care through a case-based clinical review. We discuss the case of a patient with MCI and provide an evidence-based framework for assessment, early recognition and management of MCI while addressing associated risk factors, neuropsychiatric symptoms and prognosis.


Author(s):  
Karla Aketzalli Hernández-Contreras ◽  
Jorge Antonio Martínez-Díaz ◽  
María Elena Hernández-Aguilar ◽  
Deissy Herrera-Covarrubias ◽  
Fausto Rojas-Durán ◽  
...  

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document