FRONTOTEMPORAL DEMENTIA - A CLINICOPATHOLOGICAL REVIEW OF 4 POSTMORTEM STUDIES

Frontotemporal dementia is a progressive dementing illness characteriz ed clinically by personality change, disinhibition, and apathy. Neurop athologically, neuronal cell loss, astrogliosis, and microvacuolation are present in the superficial frontotemporal cortical layers, with va riable involvement of subcortical and limbic structures. The clinical picture and anatomical distribution of the degenerative changes, as we ll as motor neuron involvement, differentiate four neuropathological g roups: 1) frontal lobe type, 2) thalamostriatal type, 3) motor neuron type, and 4) asymmetrical type. The authors review the results of four large postmortem studies with a special emphasis on cliniconeuropatho logical correlation.