What is FTD?

We had never heard of FTD before (other than the flower delivery service) when a doctor gave our family the diagnosis for our patriarch of frontotemporal lobe dementia. He said it was like Alzheimer's disease in some respects. But it was its own disease.

FTD actually refers to a group of rare neurological disorders that affect the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain, which control personality and social behavior, reasoning, movement, language, and some aspects of memory.

It often strikes people earlier than does Alzheimer's, developing as early as 35, (but most are diagnosed in their 50s and 60s.)

Doctors say that FTD makes up about 3 percent of all dementia cases.

The FTD Support Forum lists some of the diseases that get classified as FTD include Pick's Disease, FEDP-17, Supranuclear Palsy, Primary Progressive Aphasia and Corticobasal Degeneration.