CLINICAL CRITERIA

University Of California San Francisco, San Francisco CA

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This project is designed to develop better methods for quantifying the behavioral and neuropsychological changes that occur in FTLD, and to verify what symptoms and findings predict FTLD pathology. Patients with dementia and age-matched controls will receive an evaluation including a history and examination, and a nursing assessment, from which a diagnosis of FTLD, AD, or normal will be made. Next, with novel caregiver and clinician-based scales, the behavioral, emotional, neuropsychological, motor, and neuroimaging status of the patients will be quantified. Using a pathological diagnosis of FTLD as a gold standard, we will compare the predictive value of the standard clinical diagnosis to the quantitative assessment. Systematic assessment of the motor abnormalities associated with FTLD and the cognitive and behavioral abnormalities seen in PSP could provide valuable insights into both disorders. In FTLD and AD subjects, the initial evaluation will include assessment for motor findings and eye movement abnormalities suggestive of PSP via a clinical examination, bulbar abnormalities including swallowing and vocal performance via computerassisted vocal voice measurements, and motor neuron disease via needle EMG and motor unit counting techniques. Patients who meet research criteria for PSP will be evaluated in a similar fashion to all other dementia patients, using behavioral, emotional, and neuropsychological measures.