Bruce Wills Received a New diagnosis of FTD, Get to Know more about the Uncurable Disease

by nevine

Blockbuster action movie star, Bruce Willis, stepped away from acting in 2022 after being diagnosed with aphasia, a neurological disorder that impacts the ability to produce and understand words. Now, Willis’ condition has progressed and he’s received a new diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia, his family announced.

Because his symptoms began with difficulty speaking, Bruce Willis would be classified as having a type of FTD called primary progressive aphasia, said Dr. Henry Paulson, a professor of neurology and director of the Michigan Alzheimer’s Disease Center at the University of Michigan.

The prevalence of frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is somewhat uncertain, because historically, doctors sometimes misidentified the condition as depression, schizophrenia, or Alzheimer’s disease, according to the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Health. Current estimates suggest that FTD is the most common form of dementia diagnosed in people ages 60 and younger, although the condition can affect older people, as well.

The three types of FTD are behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD), primary progressive aphasia (PPA), and movement-related disorders. The first and most common type, bvFTD, primarily involves cognitive symptoms, including having difficulty planning and remembering the order of steps required to complete a task, acting impulsively, and losing interest in activities they used to enjoy. Problems with language or movement may emerge as the condition progresses, according to the NIA.

PPA affects a person’s ability to use and understand language; it comes in several forms, which differ in their specific symptoms. As their condition progresses, people with PPA can lose the ability to speak, develop problems with memory and reasoning, and show behavior changes similar to those with bvFTD.

Finally, there are several movement disorders associated with FTD. These impact the regions of the brain that control movement, as well as those involved in thinking and language, in some cases, according to the NIA.

There is no cure for FTD, nor are there any treatments to slow disease progression, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine People with FTD may be prescribed medications, such as antidepressants, antipsychotics, and sleeping aids, to treat individual symptoms of the disorder.

Unlike Alzheimer’s disease, there are no current therapies to slow down the progression of FTD. Medical professionals can attempt to improve a patient’s quality of life by prescribing medications to reduce agitation, irritability, or depression.

A speech-language pathologist can help determine the best strategies and tools for an FTD patient struggling with language skills. Physical or occupational therapy, guided by a doctor specializing in these disorders, may help with movement symptoms.

“It is really important for people who have a progressive dementing syndrome like FTD to continue to eat well, exercise regularly, and stay connected with people. Those activities are not medications, they’re not curing the disease, but they can help your brain work as well as possible,” Paulson said.

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