An “ecological” battery to detect specific executive deficits in patients with early Frontal variant of Frontotemporal Dementia (fvFTD)

TERESA TORRALVA; TRISTÁN BEKINSCHTEIN; MARÍA ROCA; AGUSTINA LACROZE; MARÍA DE LUJÁN CALCAGNO; RAMÓN LEIGUARDA; FACUNDO MANES

Miami

Encuentro; Sixteenth Annual Meeting of the American Neuropsychiatric Association; 2005

American Neuropsychiatric Association

Background: The aim of this investigation was to detect specific executive deficits in patients with early frontal variant of Frontotemporal Dementia (fvFTD) by using an "ecological" battery consisting of tests shown to be sensitive for the detection of damage to the prefrontal cortex. Methods: Study subjects included 12 early fvFTD patients, 9 frontal lesion (FL) patients and 10 normal controls. All subjects underwent a standard examination battery, including complete neurological and neuropsychological examination as well as the ecological executive battery that included: Theory of Mind tasks, the Hotel Task, the Met-hv (adaptation) and the Iowa Gambling task (IGT). Results: Significant differences were found between fvFTD and healthy comparison subjects in the following tests: FAB (P>0.001), "Theory of mind" (p>0.01), Hotel Task (p=0.02), Met-hv -total error score (p>0.01), and the IGT task (p>0.0001). The same pattern was found in the FL group. No significant differences were observed between fvFTD and FL patients, for any of the "ecological" battery tests studied. Conclusion: This study supports previous reports showing that traditional cognitive tests are not sensitive enough for early detection of fvFTD, and suggests that the executive battery used in this study may be much more sensitive for prefrontal impairment detection during early stages of the disease.