FRONTAL-LOBE DEGENERATION AND ALZHEIMERS-DISEASE - A CONTROLLED-STUDYON CLINICAL FINDINGS, VOLUMETRIC BRAIN CHANGES AND QUANTITATIVE ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAPHY DATA

Ten patients with a clinical diagnosis of frontal lobe degeneration (F LD) were compared with a group of patients with probable Alzheimer's d isease (AD) and with nondemented controls matched for gender and age. In comparison with AD, the duration of illness was slightly shorter an d cognitive performance was better in patients with FLD. The greatest enlargement of cerebrospinal fluid volumes was found in FLD and this e ffect was most pronounced in the anterior fissure and lateral ventricl es. Estimates of EEG band-power and EEG coherence in FLD were not rema rkably different from nondemented controls, whereas delta- and theta-p ower were significantly increased in AD. These observations may indica te different disease processes with a dissociation of volumetric compu ted tomography and quantitative EEG changes, which may be of different ial diagnostic value.