Abstract: Frontal variant-Frontotemporal dementia (fvFTD) and Alzheimer's
disease (AD) patients matched for severity of dementia at the Clinical Dementia
Rating (CDR) received neuropsychological testing in order to explore if the
dysexecutive disorder might characterise fvFTD at early stage, when AD is
dominated by the episodic memory defect. We also determined if the behavioural
syndrome was more severe in fvFTD than AD, and if specific patterns of
behavioural symptoms could differentiate the two types of dementia, using the
Neuropsychiatry Inventory (NPI). AD patients performed worse than fvFTD not
only in memory but also in executive tasks. Apathy and eating disorders proved
to be more severe or frequent in fvFTD even if the two groups did not differ in
the total NPI score. CDR score significantly correlated with the NPI score in
fvFTD and with the MMSE in AD. Our data confirm that the memory disorders may
differentiate the two types of dementia; however, the dysexecutive syndrome is
as severe, and even more severe in AD. The severity of the behavioural syndrome
is comparable in the two groups but the nature of the behavioural disorders may
vary to some extent. We conclude that AD dementia at early stage is a
behavioural-cognitive syndrome, while in fvFTD the behavioural disorders appear
when the cognitive deficit is still relatively mild.
