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A Dementia That Afflicts Younger Population Has Similarities to Alzheimer's, Applicable Treatments
September 21, 2009Neurodegenerative disorders called frontotemporal dementias (FTD) are the second-leading cause of early-onset dementia in persons under age 65 and can emerge sometimes as early as age 20. While research over the past 10 years has contributed much to the understanding of FTD, little progress has been made in the development of effective therapies, says a new report by Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation and The Association for Frontotemporal Dementias. "Frontotemporal dementias and Alzheimer's disease share some common disease mechanisms and much of what we learn about Alzheimer's can be applied to FTD and vice versa. That is why our two organizations collaborated on this study," says Howard Fillit, MD, Executive Director of Alzheimer's Drug Discovery foundation. "FTD affects a younger population than Alzheimer's, and in some respects is harder to diagnose." Full release.