Crossing borders: comparative neuropsychology of bvFTD and Bipolar Disorder

TERESA TORRALVA; MARÍA ROCA; MARÍA ÁNGELES POSE; MARCELO CETKOVICH; EZEQUIEL GLEICHGERRCHT; FACUNDO MANES

Indianápolis

Conferencia; 7th International Conference on Frontotemporal Dementias; 2010

The Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration

Background: Behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) is a disorder associated with a progressive degeneration of the frontal and anterior temporal cortices; its clinical manifestations are a direct reflection of these pathological changes. The initial clinical presentation of the bvFTD is most frequently the presence of psychiatric symptoms such as changes in personality or behaviorla disorders mimicking those found in affective disorders such as Bipolar Disorder (BD). Previous research has characterized these two disorders independently, buy comparisons of these pathologies have been carried out from a neuropsychological perspective. The aim of the present study was to compare the neuropsychological profile of bvFTD and elderly patients with BD in order to understand the way in which comprehensive cognitive assessment can contribute to their discrimination as distinct clinical entities as well as their differential diagnosis. Methods: 18 bvFTD patients, 15 BD patients, and 14 controls were assessed with a complete cognitive battery. Groups did not difer significantly on age, years of education, or gender distribution. Results: mood scores and performance on tests of cognitive screening (ACE-R and MMSE) were comparable between the clinical groups. While memory (RAVLT and logical memory) acquisition did not differ significantly between bvFTD and BD patients, the latter showed significantly better performance on both the delayed recall (p