Frontotemporal dementia occurs when the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain atrophy and can no longer function properly. Behavior may change, with personality changes indicating a lack of empathy and judgment. Other people may lose their capacity for speaking, writing or understanding language. Many people first heard of this condition last year when they were informed that actor Bruce Willis had been diagnosed with the disease.
How to Diagnose Frontotemporal Dementia:
Frontotemporal dementia is not nearly as common as Alzheimer disease, especially among older Americans. However, these kinds of dementia would ideally have different treatments. Physicians are currently striving to develop treatments for FTD. Early diagnosis is tricky. However, it is essential for research into causes and treatments of the condition.
To address that problem, doctors at the University of California, San Francisco, developed a smartphone app that is quite reliable at detecting the disease at an early stage (JAMA Network Open, April 1, 2024). The tests included 360 individuals with an average age of 54 years. Investigators compared the results from the smartphone app to those from standard neuropsychological tests. Not only did the results compare well, the app was better at picking up early symptoms of the condition than the standard Montreal Cognitive Assessment. It did a good job discriminating between those with the disease and cognitively normal individuals serving as controls.
The scientists hope that this smartphone app will ease diagnosis and help them monitor the effectiveness of treatment. It is not designed for people to diagnose themselves. Having people respond to the app over the course of a clinical trial could reveal how well the treatment is working over time.
