Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Preface
- Part I Basic aspects of neurodegeneration
- Part II Neuroimaging in neurodegeneration
- Part III Therapeutic approaches in neurodegeneration
- Normal aging
- Part IV Alzheimer's disease
- Part VI Other Dementias
- 33 Dementia with Lewy bodies
- 34 Frontotemporal lobar degeneration
- 35 Frontotemporal dementia with parkinsonism linked to Chromosome 17
- 36 Prion diseases
- Part VII Parkinson's and related movement disorders
- Part VIII Cerebellar degenerations
- Part IX Motor neuron diseases
- Part X Other neurodegenerative diseases
- Index
- References
34 - Frontotemporal lobar degeneration
from Part VI - Other Dementias
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 August 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Preface
- Part I Basic aspects of neurodegeneration
- Part II Neuroimaging in neurodegeneration
- Part III Therapeutic approaches in neurodegeneration
- Normal aging
- Part IV Alzheimer's disease
- Part VI Other Dementias
- 33 Dementia with Lewy bodies
- 34 Frontotemporal lobar degeneration
- 35 Frontotemporal dementia with parkinsonism linked to Chromosome 17
- 36 Prion diseases
- Part VII Parkinson's and related movement disorders
- Part VIII Cerebellar degenerations
- Part IX Motor neuron diseases
- Part X Other neurodegenerative diseases
- Index
- References
Summary
Introduction
Frontotemporal lobar degeneration, formerly called Pick's disease, is a progressive dementia that is associated with focal atrophy of the frontal and/or temporal lobes. For over 100 years, the key clinical and pathological feature of this disease has been recognized to be focal, often asymmetric cortical involvement. Histopathologically, frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) is distinct from Alzheimer's disease but heterogeneous, even among similar clinical syndromes. Recently, with the advent of specialized immunohistochemical stains and insights gained from molecular genetics, it has been recognized that FTLD is closely related to, and sometimes overlaps with three other neurodegenerative diseases: corticobasal ganglionic degeneration (CBD), progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), and motor neuron disease (MND). The central role of the microtubule-associated protein, tau, in the pathogenesis of FTLD, has led to classification as a “tauopathy.”
First description and history of FTLD
The first case of what is now called frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) was described by Arnold Pick in 1892 (Pick, 1892). His subsequent description of six similar patients emphasized a language impairment, which he termed “amnestic aphasia,” and a focal pattern of brain atrophy involving the temporal and/or frontal lobes. A lack of senile plaques and tangles in the brains of similar patients was noted by Alzheimer in 1911. He and Altman provided the first histopathological description of argyrophilic inclusions (later termed Pick bodies) and swollen achromatic cells (later termed Pick cells) (Altman, 1923).
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- Information
- Neurodegenerative DiseasesNeurobiology, Pathogenesis and Therapeutics, pp. 481 - 493Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2005
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