Dissociable executive functions in behavioral variant frontotemporal and Alzheimer dementias.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

The objective of this study was to determine which aspects of executive functions are most affected in behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) and best differentiate this syndrome from Alzheimer disease (AD).

Methods

We compared executive functions in 22 patients diagnosed with bvFTD, 26 with AD, and 31 neurologically healthy controls using a conceptually driven and comprehensive battery of executive function tests, the NIH EXAMINER battery (http://examiner.ucsf.edu).

Results

The bvFTD and the AD patients were similarly impaired compared with controls on tests of working memory, category fluency, and attention, but the patients with bvFTD showed significantly more severe impairments than the patients with AD on tests of letter fluency, antisaccade

SUBMITTER: Possin KL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3721104 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature