# Frontotemporal dementia

Source: https://onco.cc/diagnoses/frontotemporal-dementia/  
OnCo record `frontotemporal-dementia` (Diagnosis). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Frontotemporal dementia often changes behaviour, personality, or language earlier than memory. There is no FDA-approved medicine specifically for its cognitive symptoms.

## Summary

Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) includes behavioural-variant and language-led presentations. Pathology may involve tau or TDP-43. Memory can be relatively spared early, which delays recognition. There is no FDA-approved cognitive treatment for FTD. Psychiatric or behavioural medicines, when used, are for separate indications and need specialist judgement. Treating the wrong subtype can add harm without benefit.

## Fields

- Kind: Diagnosis
- Last checked: 2026-09-21
- Tags: dementia-atlas
- Group: dementia

## Sources

- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frontotemporal_dementia
- NIA: frontotemporal disorders: https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/alzheimers-and-dementia/frontotemporal-disorders

## Connected records

- diagnoses: [Alzheimer’s disease](https://onco.cc/diagnoses/alzheimers-disease/), [Dementia (umbrella)](https://onco.cc/diagnoses/dementia/)
- fronts: [Genetics](https://onco.cc/fronts/da-front-genetics/), [Symptomatic care](https://onco.cc/fronts/da-front-symptomatic-care/)
- targets: [Tau](https://onco.cc/targets/da-target-tau/), [TDP-43](https://onco.cc/targets/da-target-tdp43/)
- bottlenecks: [Wrong-subtype treatment](https://onco.cc/bottlenecks/da-bn-subtype-misclassification/)

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JSON: https://onco.cc/api/v1/entities/frontotemporal-dementia.json