frontal-subcortical dementia

Etiology

• most dementias other than Alzheimer's disease have predominantly frontal-subcortical features
• AIDS dementia complex exemplifies frontal-subcortical dementia

Pathology

• involvement of frontal-subcortical circuits in the basal ganglia, thalamus & subcortical white matter (leukoaraiosis)

Clinical manifestations

• slowed mental processing
• difficulty in memory retrieval
• increased prominence of affective disorders
  • apathy
  • depression
  • may be disinhibition
• presence of movement disorders
  • gait disorder
  • tone
• attention abnormal
• relative sparing of language
  • dysarthria
  • decreased verbal fluency,
  • perseveration with frontal involvement
• impaired executive function

More general terms

• dementia; Alzheimer's disease & related dementias (ADRD)

Additional terms

• cortical versus frontal-subcortical dementia
• frontotemporal dementia; frontotemporal lobar degeneration; frontotemporal neurocognitive disorder (FTD, FTLD)