Language, executive function and social cognition in the diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia syndromes

Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) represents a spectrum of non-Alzheimer's degenerative conditions associated with focal atrophy of the frontal and/or temporal lobes. Frontal and temporal regions of the brain have been shown to be strongly involved in executive function, social cognition and language processing and, thus, deficits in these domains are frequently seen in patients with FTD or may even be hallmarks of a specific FTD subtype (i.e. relatively selective and progressive language impairment in primary progressive aphasia). In this review we have attempted to delineate how language, executive function, and social cognition may contribute to the diagnosis of FTD syndromes, namely the behavioural variant FTD as well as the language variants of FTD including the three subtypes of primary progressive aphasia (PPA): non-fluent/agrammatic, semantic and logopenic. This review also addresses the extent to which deficits in these cognitive areas contribute to the differential diagnosis of FTD versus Alzheimer's disease (AD). Finally, early clinical determinants of pathology are briefly discussed and contemporary challenges to the diagnosis of FTD are presented.