Behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia-related practices of physicians in Latin America

EZEQUIEL GLEICHGERRCHT; DANIEL FLICHTENTREI; FACUNDO MANES

Indianápolis

Conferencia; 7th International Conference on Frontotemporal Dementias; 2010

The Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration

Background: Diagnosis of the behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) can be challenging, especially during the early stages, when behavioral disturbances can mimic the symptomatic profile of psychiatric disorders, neuropsychological performance may be relatively spared, and no structural changes in structural neuroimagin may be detected. Most frequently, bvFTD is not covered in detail as part of medical or residency training outside the cognitive neurology field. Methods: Because Latin America accounts for almos nine percent of the world´s population, understanding bvFTD-related clinical practice across the region is important in order to understand the way health professionals in this representative region approach bvFTD, its diagnosis, and its treatment. The present study surveyed the academic and professional aspects of clinical practice related to bvFTD of 596 physicians from different fields throughout Latin America. Results: We discuss several aspects repartinin the way in which Latin American physicians are trained on dementia and bvFTD, how they approach the differential diagnosis of bvFTD, and their most frequent choices for treatment of this condition. Conclusions: Understand clinical practices related to FTD can help design more efficient education and training programs for physicians in this and other world regions.