EXPLICIT MEMORY IN FRONTOTEMPORAL DEMENTIA - THE ROLE OF MEDIAL TEMPORAL ATROPHY

In our memory clinic experience, memory impairment differs widely in p atients with frontotemporal dementia (FTD). We searched for a correlat ion between explicit memory disturbance assessed with the Grober and B uschke test and medial temporal atrophy on CT scan in 22 consecutive p atients with FTD. Five of the 22 patients had a medial temporal lobe ( MTL) atrophy. There was no significant difference between the two grou ps for the demographic characteristics. Free recall, cued recall and t he learning curve were significantly better in patients without MTL at rophy. The patients with MTL atrophy made more intrusions. We found a positive correlation between total recall and cued recall and the mean of medial temporal lobe measurement. These results are in agreement w ith the role of the hippocampal formation in the memory process. In ou r group, the ratio of patients with MTL atrophy is similar to the rati o of Pick's disease in frontotemporal dementia. In histological series more severe hippocampal atrophy are reported in Pick's disease. There fore MTL atrophy on CT scan could be a marker of Pick's disease in FTD .