Frontotemporal Dysfunction and Dementia in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

Abstract

Although amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is classically considered a disorder exclusively affecting motor neurons, there is substantial clinical, neuroimaging, and neuropathologic evidence that more than half of patients have an associated syndrome of frontotemporal dysfunction. These syndromes range from frontotemporal dementia to behavioral or cognitive syndromes. Neuroimaging and neuropathologic findings are consistent with frontotemporal lobar degeneration that underpins alterations in network connectivity. Future clinical trials need to be stratified based on the presence or absence of frontotemporal dysfunction on the disease course of ALS.

Keywords: Cognitive impairment; Frontotemporal dementia; Frontotemporal lobar degeneration; Neural network; TDP-43; Tau; Theory of mind.