How much do physicians in Latin America know about behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia?

Ezequiel Gleichgerrcht*, Daniel Flichtentrei, Facundo Manes

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

14 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Diagnosis of behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) can be especially challenging during the early stages for several reasons, including the fact that (a) behavioral disturbances in bvFTD can mimic the symptomatic profile of psychiatric disorders; (b) neuropsychological performance may be relatively spared; and (c) changes in structural neuroimaging may go undetected. Most frequently, bvFTD is not included as part of medical or residency training outside the field of cognitive neurology. The present study aimed at examining bvFTD-related practices concerning academic and professional training, diagnosis, and treatment across Latin America. We surveyed the academic and professional aspects of clinical practice related to bvFTD of 596 physicians from different fields throughout the continent. We discuss several aspects concerning Latin American physicians' training on dementia and bvFTD, the way in which they approach the differential diagnosis of bvFTD, and their most frequent strategies for the treatment of this condition. We conclude that information about bvFTD deserves more attention in both undergraduate and postgraduate medical education in Latin America, and that understanding clinical practices related to FTD can help design more efficient training programs for physicians in this and other world regions.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)609-617
Number of pages9
JournalJournal of Molecular Neuroscience
Volume45
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Nov 2011
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Academic training
  • Diagnosis
  • Frontotemporal dementia
  • Latin America
  • Treatment

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