When depression envelops frontotemporal dementia: The differential diagnostic frame through a case report
Introduction Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is common in presenile population. The overlapping symptoms with other psychiatric disorders can lead to wrong/late diagnosis which cause delays/difficulties regarding case-management. Especially, long-standing and/or late-onset depression can descriptivel...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Cambridge University Press
2022-06-01
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| Series: | European Psychiatry |
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| Online Access: | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0924933822016649/type/journal_article |
| _version_ | 1827754502832259072 |
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| author | U. Altunoz J. Menstell M. Ziegenbein |
| author_facet | U. Altunoz J. Menstell M. Ziegenbein |
| author_sort | U. Altunoz |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description |
Introduction
Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is common in presenile population. The overlapping symptoms with other psychiatric disorders can lead to wrong/late diagnosis which cause delays/difficulties regarding case-management. Especially, long-standing and/or late-onset depression can descriptively envelop bvFTD (behavioral-variant) and leads to unnecessary treatments and increased distress. It’s important to implement a descriptive diagnostic algorithm which will help clinicians to distinguish the phenomenology of these disorders.
Objectives
This presentation aims to call attention of the clinicians/researchers to an elaborated effort concerning differential diagnosis of two common disorders with overlapping features through a case-study of a 59-year-old male patient.
Methods
One case from an inpatient unit of a psychiatric clinic in Lower Saxony, Germany will be reported.
Results
Case: The patient was referred to our acute-psychiatric-ward from the day-clinic-unit because of treatment-resistant, severe and long-lasting depressive symptoms. He was depressed, desperate, hopeless, listless and had suicidal thoughts. During the first days of treatment, symptoms like apathy, bad hygiene, weird eating-behavior, urinary incontinence, lack of empathy, language disorders and other behavioral symptoms were evident. Brain-MRI yielded frontotemporal lobar atrophy. Trail-Making-Test and Frontal-Assessment-Battery showed pronounced impairment of executive functions. Mini mental state examination and DemTect yielded light to moderate memory dysfunction. Diagnostic Criteria for Probable bvFTD (International-Consensus-Criteria) were fulfilled.
Conclusions
The diagnosis of bvFTD enabled a rapid assignment of a legal representative and relieved the long-lasting discomfort of the patient and his family that was caused by multiple unsuccessful treatment trials against depression. The differential diagnostic frame between bvFTD and depression will be discussed in view of the current literature.
Disclosure
No significant relationships.
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| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T07:51:16Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-2d78aca485684591b9f3e0b38ab389f5 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 0924-9338 1778-3585 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T07:51:16Z |
| publishDate | 2022-06-01 |
| publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | European Psychiatry |
| spelling | doaj.art-2d78aca485684591b9f3e0b38ab389f52023-11-17T05:06:42ZengCambridge University PressEuropean Psychiatry0924-93381778-35852022-06-0165S648S64910.1192/j.eurpsy.2022.1664When depression envelops frontotemporal dementia: The differential diagnostic frame through a case reportU. Altunoz0J. Menstell1M. Ziegenbein2Wahrendorff Clinic, Centre Of Transcultural Psychiatry & Psychotherapy, Sehnde, Germany Hannover Medical School, Research Group For Social And Transcultural Psychiatry & Psychotherapy, Hannover, GermanyWahrendorff Clinic, Centre Of Transcultural Psychiatry & Psychotherapy, Sehnde, GermanyWahrendorff Clinic, Department Of Psychiatry & Psychotherapy, Sehnde, Germany Introduction Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is common in presenile population. The overlapping symptoms with other psychiatric disorders can lead to wrong/late diagnosis which cause delays/difficulties regarding case-management. Especially, long-standing and/or late-onset depression can descriptively envelop bvFTD (behavioral-variant) and leads to unnecessary treatments and increased distress. It’s important to implement a descriptive diagnostic algorithm which will help clinicians to distinguish the phenomenology of these disorders. Objectives This presentation aims to call attention of the clinicians/researchers to an elaborated effort concerning differential diagnosis of two common disorders with overlapping features through a case-study of a 59-year-old male patient. Methods One case from an inpatient unit of a psychiatric clinic in Lower Saxony, Germany will be reported. Results Case: The patient was referred to our acute-psychiatric-ward from the day-clinic-unit because of treatment-resistant, severe and long-lasting depressive symptoms. He was depressed, desperate, hopeless, listless and had suicidal thoughts. During the first days of treatment, symptoms like apathy, bad hygiene, weird eating-behavior, urinary incontinence, lack of empathy, language disorders and other behavioral symptoms were evident. Brain-MRI yielded frontotemporal lobar atrophy. Trail-Making-Test and Frontal-Assessment-Battery showed pronounced impairment of executive functions. Mini mental state examination and DemTect yielded light to moderate memory dysfunction. Diagnostic Criteria for Probable bvFTD (International-Consensus-Criteria) were fulfilled. Conclusions The diagnosis of bvFTD enabled a rapid assignment of a legal representative and relieved the long-lasting discomfort of the patient and his family that was caused by multiple unsuccessful treatment trials against depression. The differential diagnostic frame between bvFTD and depression will be discussed in view of the current literature. Disclosure No significant relationships. https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0924933822016649/type/journal_articledifferential diagnosisDepressionfrontotemporal dementia |
| spellingShingle | U. Altunoz J. Menstell M. Ziegenbein When depression envelops frontotemporal dementia: The differential diagnostic frame through a case report European Psychiatry differential diagnosis Depression frontotemporal dementia |
| title | When depression envelops frontotemporal dementia: The differential diagnostic frame through a case report |
| title_full | When depression envelops frontotemporal dementia: The differential diagnostic frame through a case report |
| title_fullStr | When depression envelops frontotemporal dementia: The differential diagnostic frame through a case report |
| title_full_unstemmed | When depression envelops frontotemporal dementia: The differential diagnostic frame through a case report |
| title_short | When depression envelops frontotemporal dementia: The differential diagnostic frame through a case report |
| title_sort | when depression envelops frontotemporal dementia the differential diagnostic frame through a case report |
| topic | differential diagnosis Depression frontotemporal dementia |
| url | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0924933822016649/type/journal_article |
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