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BMJ Publishing Group, Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, 5(90), p. 562-569, 2018

DOI: 10.1136/jnnp-2018-318470

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Apraxia screening predicts Alzheimer pathology in frontotemporal dementia

This paper was not found in any repository, but could be made available legally by the author.
This paper was not found in any repository, but could be made available legally by the author.

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Abstract

ObjectivesFrontotemporal dementia (FTD) is a heterogeneous clinical syndrome linked to diverse types of underlying neuropathology. Diagnosis is mainly based on clinical presentation and accurate prediction of underlying neuropathology remains difficult.MethodsWe present a large cohort of patients with FTD spectrum diseases (n=84). All patients were thoroughly characterised by cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) Alzheimer’s disease (AD) biomarkers, neuroimaging, neuropsychological testing and standardised apraxia screening.ResultsA potential AD pathology was found in 43% of patients with FTD. CSF AD biomarker levels positively correlated with AD-typical apraxia scores in patients with FTD. The discriminative power of apraxia test results indicative of AD pathology was high (sensitivity: 90%, specificity: 66%).ConclusionsApraxia is common in neurodegenerative dementias but under-represented in clinical workup and diagnostic criteria. Standardised apraxia screening may serve as bedside test to objectify an AD-typical apraxia profile as an early and robust sign of AD pathology in patients with FTD.