Bruce Willi diagnosed with frontotemporal lobe dementia! Experts: There is a serious risk of becoming a person with ALS and unable to take care of themselves
In March 2022, it was reported that Hollywood action star Bruce Willis suffered from “Aphasia” and had to put down his acting career and temporarily leave the entertainment industry. Recently (February 16), foreign media confirmed that Bruce Willis’s wife announced that she was diagnosed with “Frontotemporal Dementia”, and there is currently no effective drug to treat the disease.
Bruce Willi diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia! Are you seriously afraid of becoming a person with ALS and unable to take care of yourself?
What is frontotemporal dementia? What are the consequences if the condition worsens? According to guidelines published by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), frontotemporal dementia is the result of damage to neurons in the “frontal lobes” and “temporal lobes” of the brain. Symptoms that may occur include unusual behavior, emotional problems, difficulty communicating, working, or walking. Compared with other forms of dementia, frontotemporal dementia is rarer and tends to occur at a younger age, with approximately 60% of patients affected between the ages of 45 and 64.
According to content published by the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) School of Medicine, frontotemporal dementia is most common among middle-aged and elderly people under the age of 60, and is similar to Alzheimer’s disease. Therefore, in the past, frontotemporal dementia was often misdiagnosed as depression, schizophrenia or Alzheimer’s disease. According to the University of California, typical symptoms of frontotemporal dementia include aloofness or reticence, personality and mood changes, lack of social skills, obsessive or repetitive behaviors, unusual verbal or physical behaviors, and excessive eating leading to weight gain. Increase.
In addition, the University of California also stated that early symptoms of frontotemporal dementia often involve the patient’s personality, and in later stages, movement disorders may occur, such as unsteady gait, stiffness, slowness of movement, twitching, muscle weakness, or difficulty swallowing. Certain patients will worsen and develop motor neurone disease (ALS). Patients in the final stages of frontotemporal lobe dementia may be unable to take care of themselves.
Should middle-aged and middle-aged people also worry about dementia? Frontotemporal lobe dementia may occur as early as 50 years old
What is the relationship between the “aphasia” that Bruce Willi suffered from and frontotemporal dementia? Dr. Lin Yuhui, the attending physician of the Department of Neurology at Guangtian General Hospital, said in a previous interview that the cause of the “aphasia” suffered by Bruce Willi may include “stroke” caused by cerebral vascular obstruction, or brain degeneration caused by “dementia” . For patients like Bruce Willi who do not have cognitive dysfunction but have aphasia, the more common clinical causative factor is indeed frontotemporal dementia, which is also consistent with the report released by Bruce Willi’s wife. The diagnostic report is consistent.
Dr. Lin Yuhui said that frontotemporal lobe dementia is one of the “early-onset dementias” with the highest proportion. Patients may start to develop the disease around the age of 50, and there is a strong family hereditary risk, which is highly related to genes. . There was a middle-aged woman in the clinic who was hospitalized for a stroke. It was originally thought that her aphasia was caused by the stroke. However, aphasia caused by stroke usually remains stable and may improve with intervention from a speech therapist. The patient’s language function continued to deteriorate. Finally, after psychological evaluation and imaging examination, it was discovered that the patient’s frontal and temporal lobe areas had asymmetrical atrophy, and it was confirmed that he had aphasia combined with frontotemporal dementia. question.
What is the difference between frontotemporal dementia and Alzheimer’s disease? Medical warning: Pay special attention to “1 behavior” performed by relatives and friends
What is the difference between frontotemporal dementia and Alzheimer’s disease? Dr. Lin Yuhui pointed out that the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease are mostly characterized by cognitive dysfunction such as forgetfulness, memory degradation, or decreased concentration; while frontotemporal dementia can be characterized by personality changes, poor impulse control, and similar mental, emotional, and personality changes. to perform. For example, you suddenly have obsessive-compulsive disorder tendencies, or your cheerful personality becomes melancholic. This also makes clinical diagnosis more difficult to determine whether the patient has a mental illness or neurodegenerative dementia in the early stages of the disease.
Dr. Lin Yuhui said that there is currently no effective fundamental treatment for frontotemporal dementia, and changes in the patient’s personality and mental state often cause difficulties in caring for family members. Treatment usually focuses on improving symptoms, such as antidepressants, antipsychotics, and mental stabilizers. As brain cells degenerate, the patient’s aphasia will gradually worsen, eventually progressing to the point where he is unable to speak or even “cannot even utter a word.”
If relatives and friends around you begin to have language expression difficulties, such as being unable to express the simple noun “pen”, or trying to speak “telephone” but can only say “used to type” and other adjectives, you should pay attention to whether it is aphasia. It can be checked by a doctor as soon as possible. If frontotemporal dementia is diagnosed, the patient and family members should understand the disease and cooperate with treatment.
source:
Frontotemporal Dementia Signs and Symptoms
Frontotemporal Dementia-Johns Hopkins Medicine School
What Are Frontotemporal Disorders? Causes, Symptoms, and Treatment
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