Frontotemporal dementia: what is the disease suffered by Bruce Willis

He American actor Bruce Willisremoved from screens for almost a year due to health problems, revealed this Thursday that he was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia (FTD). “It’s a cruel disease that it can affect anyone,” the movie star’s family concluded in a statement about this syndrome.

Frontotemporal dementia encompasses a group of diseases that damage the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain. brain progressively. It generally involves patients between the ages of 45 and 65 -Willis is 67- and is the third most common cause of dementia and the second early onset, behind alzheimer.

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This type of dementia is manifested by a combination of behavioral and/or language symptoms. For example, in the case of the actor in Hard to Kill and ArmageddonIn March 2022, he announced his retirement from acting after being told by his doctors. diagnosed with aphasiaimpairment of spoken or written communication skills.

In the family statement, which bears the signatures of his ex-wife Demi Moore and their five daughtersemphasizes that “today there are no treatments for the disease“, a reality that they hope will change in the coming years, although the patient can take medications and make changes in their lifestyle to try to improve symptoms and quality of life.

According to him specialized portal mayo clinicfrontotemporal dementia can “be misdiagnosed as a psychiatric problem or such as alzheimer’s disease“, although it is usually realized earlier than the latter.

On the other hand, it clarifies that there are different types of disorders and all can affect middle-aged adults as well as older people.

Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD) Symptoms

The signs and symptoms of frontotemporal dementia can be different in each person and worse symptoms of progressively over the years. These include behavior, speech, and movement problems. Among others, son:

• Loss of empathy and other interpersonal skills, such as being sensitive to the feelings of others
• Lack of judgment and interest (apathy), which can be confused with depression
• repetitive compulsive behavior
• Changes in eating habits
• Increasing difficulty using and understanding written and spoken language
• Not knowing the meaning of words
• tremors
• Rigidity
• Muscle spasms or contractions
• falls or problems walking

Frontotemporal dementia types

One of the types of frontotemporal dementia is that which involves the behavioral variant, which represents the most frequent. It causes changes in personality, behavior, emotions and criteria. On the other hand, there is the primary progressive aphasiaIt involves changes in the ability to communicate.

Meanwhile, the movement disorders They occur when the parts of the brain that control movement resultantly affected. There are two classes: corticobasal degeneration and progressive supranuclear palsy. Other of these types of disorders include frontotemporal dementia against parkinsonism and frontotemporal dementia with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. Among them, the symptoms may vary.

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