Frontotemporal dementia is diagnosed from a pattern in which personality, behaviour or language change first, with memory relatively preserved early on. It typically affects people younger than Alzheimer's disease and is frequently misdiagnosed as a psychiatric condition. An account from someone who knows the person well is indispensable, because insight is often lost early and the person may report no problem at all.
Frontotemporal dementia is diagnosed from a pattern in which personality, behaviour or language change first, with memory relatively preserved early on. It typically affects people younger than Alzheimer's disease and is frequently misdiagnosed as a psychiatric condition. An account from someone who knows the person well is indispensable, because insight is often lost early and the person may report no problem at all.
Unlike Alzheimer's disease, where memory difficulty leads, frontotemporal dementia commonly begins with changes in personality and behaviour: loss of empathy, socially inappropriate remarks, apathy mistaken for depression, impulsive spending, new rigid routines, or marked changes in eating, often towards sweet foods. Because memory tests well early on and the person is often in their fifties or sixties, this is frequently attributed to depression, a midlife crisis or a relationship problem for a long time before dementia is considered.
A separate group presents with language rather than behaviour. Some people lose the meaning of words, using vague terms and no longer recognising what familiar objects are for. Others retain comprehension but produce effortful, halting speech with grammatical errors. Both are progressive and both are frontotemporal dementia variants, and both are often initially attributed to a stroke or to ordinary word-finding difficulty.
The history from someone who knows the person well is indispensable here, more so than in almost any other dementia, because insight is often lost and the person may report no problem at all. Neuropsychological testing profiles executive function and language separately, which is where the pattern shows. Imaging can show atrophy in the frontal and temporal lobes, arranged externally since these offices have no imaging suite. Neuropsychological testing is available within the practice.
Clinical Neurology Specialists has been physician-owned since 1998, when Leo Germin, M.D., FAANEM founded it. Five board-certified neurologists and four advanced practice providers see patients at the Las Vegas and Henderson offices, each with its own AANEM-accredited electrodiagnostic laboratory.
Clinical Neurology Specialists is an adult outpatient neurology practice for patients 18 and older. The practice performs no surgery and operates no imaging suite, infusion suite or interventional pain programme, and provides no emergency or inpatient care.
Physician-reviewed. Reviewed by the physicians of Clinical Neurology Specialists — board-certified neurologists, AANEM-accredited electrodiagnostic laboratories, physician-owned since 1998. Reviewed 1 August 2026. This article is general education for adults 18 and older and is not a substitute for a consultation.
Sources and further reading: MedlinePlus: Alzheimer disease; National Institute on Aging; MedlinePlus: memory.
Adults 18 and older, at the Las Vegas and Henderson offices. Call 702-804-1212 or request an appointment online.