DAC Scientific Update: Frontotemporal Dementia
2 disorders that primarily affect the frontal and temporal lobes of
the brain.
The idea that sticky brain plaques cause Alzheimer’s disease began as an interesting hypothesis and eventually became drug industry dogma. Now, after a string of clinical trial failures, that hypothesis looks less credible than ever.
2 disorders that primarily affect the frontal and temporal lobes of
the brain.
Individuals 65 years and older are the fastest growing age group in Canada and represent 19%
of the Canadian population.1,2 With Canada’s aging population come the challenges of meeting
the housing needs of older adults. Many older adults desire to live and receive care in their own
homes and communities for as long as possible as their needs and capabilities change.3,4
However, there are gaps in housing options for older adults and lack of access to affordable
housing and appropriate supportive services has pushed many older adults into long-term care
(LTC) homes.5
Across Canada, one in almost 12.7 people who are capable of returning to their homes with supports such as help with bathing or changing the dressing on a wound are being kept in hospital while those services are put in place.
Martha and Willard Farnell, a Calgary couple, have been married for 66 years. The two had a six-month courtship in 1953 and have been inseparable ever since.
The idea that sticky brain plaques cause Alzheimer’s disease began as an interesting hypothesis and eventually became drug industry dogma. Now, after a string of clinical trial failures, that hypothesis looks less credible than ever.
Frontotemporal dementia is a cruel disease. It’s not Alzheimer’s, which attacks the part of the brain responsible for memory. Instead, it degrades the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain, which control personality and speech.
This is a story about the cruelest disease you have never heard of. It’s called frontotemporal dementia — or FTD. And given the devastating toll it takes on its victims and their families, it ought to be much better known than it is.
Ron Posno was diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment—a precursor to dementia—in 2016, and soon after, the London, Ont., resident re-wrote his will. He already had a Do Not Resuscitate order in place, and to this he added instructions for the niece who was his substitute decision maker that at a specific point in the progress of his illness, she was to seek medical assistance in dying on his behalf.
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