The reversible impairment of behavioral variant frontotemporal brain sagging syndrome: Challenges and opportunities.

ABSTRACT: Due to loss of brain buoyancy, spontaneous spinal cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leaks cause orthostatic headaches but also can cause symptoms indistinguishable from behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) due to severe brain sagging (including the frontal and temporal lobes), as visualized on brain magnetic resonance imaging. However, the detection of these CSF leaks may require specialized spinal imaging techniques, such as digital subtraction myelography (DSM). We performed DSM in the lateral decubitus position under general anesthesia in 21 consecutive patients with frontotemporal dementia brain sagging syndrome (4 women and 17 men; mean age 56.2 years [range: 31-70 years]). Nine patients (42.8%) were found to have a CSF-venous fistula, a recently discovered type of CSF leak that

SUBMITTER: Schievink WI 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9760785 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature