What is frontotemporal dementia?

Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) happens when the nerves at the front and side of your brain are damaged.

It most often affects people aged between 45 and 65 years. It can also affect younger and older people.

The main symptoms of FTD are changes in your behaviour and language. Like other forms of dementia, it's a progressive disease that starts slowly. It will get worse with time.

What are the types of frontotemporal dementia?

There are different types of FTD:

• Behavioural-variant frontotemporal dementia — your behaviour, personality, judgement and empathy are affected.
• Primary progressive aphasia — you'll have a loss of language skills. Later in the disease, behaviour changes can occur. There are 3 types of primary progressive aphasia.

The 3 types of primary progressive aphasia are:

1. Progressive non-fluent aphasia — you slowly lose the ability to speak fluently.
2. Semantic dementia — is when you have trouble assigning meaning to words or thinking of the right word. You may also have trouble recognising people or objects.
3. Logopenic aphasia — you have trouble thinking of the right word to say. It might take you a long time to say things.

What are the symptoms of frontotemporal dementia?

Symptoms of frontotemporal dementia can include:

• personality and behaviour changes
• language problems
• problems with planning and organisation

Unlike in Alzheimer's disease, your memory may not be affected in the beginning.

The symptoms of FTD usually start slowly and get worse over time.

Behavioural-variant frontotemporal dementia symptoms

Symptoms of this type of FTD are:

• stopping taking care of yourself and neglecting your personal hygiene
• losing motivation and avoiding social contact
• acting impulsively and losing inhibitions — saying or doing things you normally wouldn't
• changing eating habits — craving sweet foods or unusual foods
• having difficulty in reasoning, judging and planning
• not being able to adapt to new situations
• losing empathy

Primary progressive aphasia symptoms

With this form of FTD you will slowly lose your language skills, including:

• speaking
• reading
• writing
• understanding

What causes frontotemporal dementia?

It's not known why most people get FTD. In about 1 in 3 cases, there is a genetic factor. Genetic testing is the only way to find out if FTD is linked to genetics in your family.

There is evidence that having a traumatic brain injury increases your chance of developing FTD in the future.

When should I see my doctor?

You should see your doctor if you are worried that you have early symptoms of dementia.

How is frontotemporal dementia diagnosed?

You doctor will take a detailed medical history and examine you. Your doctor may refer you to a specialist.

They may get you to do cognitive tests. These are questions that check your speech, understanding and thinking.

They make also organise:

• urine tests
• blood tests
• a CT scan
• an MRI scan

These can help rule out other causes of your symptoms.

How is frontotemporal dementia treated?

As with other types of dementia, there is no cure for FTD.

But there are treatments that can help you manage your symptoms. These can include:

• counselling
• speech therapy
• occupational therapy

Medicines, such as antidepressants or antipsychotics, may help with some of the symptoms of FTD.

Can frontotemporal dementia be prevented?

There are no specific studies on the prevention of FTD.

However, there are several factors that can increase your chance of getting dementia. These can include having conditions such as:

• hypertension (high blood pressure)
• diabetes
• depression
• hearing loss
• head injury

Other risk factors are:

• infrequent social contact
• obesity and physical inactivity
• smoking
• drinking too much alcohol
• exposure to air pollution

Where possible, addressing or treating these factors may help reduce your risk of dementia.

Complications of frontotemporal dementia

As the condition progresses, you may need to think about when to stop driving.

In the later stages of the disease, you may find it difficult to care for yourself. You will become increasingly dependent on carers.

Resources and support

To learn more about FTD, try these resources:

• Dementia Australia has information, and you can call the National Dementia Helpline on 1800 100 500 or use their webchat.
• The Australian Frontotemporal Dementia Association (AFTDA) has information and support for patients and carers.
• Carer Conversations provide free face-to-face or online support groups for carers of someone living at home with frontotemporal dementia. To learn more, go to the Dementia Support Australia website.

You can also call the healthdirect helpline on 1800 022 222 (known as NURSE-ON-CALL in Victoria). A registered nurse is available to speak with 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.