Nearly a year ago, 68-year-old actor Bruce Willis was diagnosed with a condition called aphasia. This disorder affected his ability to understand and express spoken or written language, making it difficult to communicate.

What are the first signs of frontotemporal dementia?

Symptoms typically first occur between the ages of 40 and 65 and can include changes in personality and behavior, progressive loss of speech and language skills, and sometimes physical symptoms such as tremors or spasms. FTD tends to progress over time.

What are the 7 stages of frontotemporal dementia?

What is the life expectancy of someone with frontotemporal dementia?

The length of progression varies from 2 to over 20 years. Over time, FTD predisposes an individual to physical complications such as pneumonia, infection, or injury from a fall. The most common cause of death is pneumonia. Average life expectancy is 7 to 13 years after the start of symptoms.

How quickly does primary progressive aphasia progress?

People with primary progressive aphasia eventually lose the ability to speak and write. This may take anywhere from 3 to 15 years. They also have trouble understanding written and spoken language. Some people are not able to form sounds to speak, even when they still have the ability to write and comprehend language.

Bruce Willis Diagnosed With Frontotemporal Dementia

What is the life expectancy of someone who has aphasia?

Most people who have the condition live up to 12 years after their initial diagnosis. Eventually, many people need daily support with their usual activities.

What is the youngest person with frontotemporal dementia?

The youngest patient was 14 years of age. Most patients (8/14) had a positive family history. The most common clinical phenotype was the behavioral variant (12/14).

What is the difference between Alzheimer's and frontotemporal dementia?

Frontotemporal Dementia versus Alzheimer's Disease

AD is the most common dementia in older people. Therefore, it is often one of the first diseases a doctor considers. But Alzheimer's disease usually begins with memory loss, while FTD is typically a behavior or language disorder.

Do people know they have frontotemporal dementia?

Symptoms of FTD are often misunderstood. Family members and friends may think that a person is misbehaving, leading to anger and conflict. It is important to understand that people with these disorders cannot control their behaviors and other symptoms and lack any awareness of their illness.

What is the 5 word memory test?

Introduction: The five-word test (5WT) is a serial verbal memory test with semantic cuing. It is proposed to rapidly evaluate memory of aging people and has previously shown its sensitivity and its specificity in identifying patients with AD.

What stage of dementia is not eating?

In the end stages of dementia (in the last few months or weeks of life), the person's food and fluid intake tends to decrease slowly over time. The body adjusts to this slowing down process and the reduced intake.

What stage of dementia is forgetting names?

STAGE 2: SUBJECTIVE MEMORY LOSS

Elderly persons with these symptoms report that they can no longer remember names as easily as they could 5 or 10 years previously; they can also have trouble recalling where they have recently placed things.

What famous person has frontotemporal dementia?

Bruce Willis' former wife, Demi Moore, posted on Instagram about his diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia, known as FTD. The type of dementia affecting the actor Bruce Willis is just one of several forms that dementia can take.

What are the 5 words you mispronounce before dementia?

What are the 10 warning signs of dementia?

How quickly does frontotemporal dementia progress?

Like other types of dementia, frontotemporal dementia tends to develop slowly and get gradually worse over several years.

What is the 3 word memory test?

A third test, known as the Mini-Cog, takes 2 to 4 minutes to administer and involves asking patients to recall three words after drawing a picture of a clock. If a patient shows no difficulties recalling the words, it is inferred that he or she does not have dementia.

Does frontotemporal dementia progress to death faster than Alzheimer disease?

Conclusions: Frontotemporal lobar degeneration progresses more rapidly than Alzheimer disease, and the fastest-progressing cases are those with the frontotemporal dementia clinical subtype, coexisting motor neuron disease, or tau-negative neuropathology.

Can frontotemporal dementia be passed down?

Genetic FTD is passed down in families in a dominant pattern. This means that the child of a person with a FTD-causing gene mutation has a 50 percent, or 1 in 2, chance to have the same mutation.

Has anyone recovered from aphasia?

Some people with aphasia recover completely without treatment. But for most people, some amount of aphasia typically remains. Treatments such as speech therapy can often help recover some speech and language functions over time, but many people continue to have problems communicating.

Can you recover 100% from aphasia?

A person with aphasia may never regain their full speech and language skills. However, they may learn new ways to communicate. By recovery, we mean rebuilding or learning new communication skills, battling the isolation that often comes with aphasia, and reclaiming a piece of independence for you or your loved one.