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Abstract
Background
Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is one of the most frequent dementia types in patients under 65 years of age. Currently, no therapy can effectively improve the cognitive deficits associated with FTD. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is a noninvasive method of inducing brain plasticity with therapeutic potential in neurodegenerative diseases. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of rTMS on cognitive, behavioral, and emotional function in FTD.
Methods
Nine patients (seven women, four men, mean age 61.7±10.1 years) with the behavioral variant of FTD, one with nonfluent/agrammatic variant primary progressive aphasia, and one with progressive nonfluent aphasia (subtypes of FTD) underwent 10 daily sessions of 10 Hz rTMS over the bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Cognitive and behavioral assessments were administered before and after therapy.
Results
After rTMS, the Montreal Cognitive Assessment and letter and digit cancellation test scores, as well as reading time and error number in the Stroop test improved. The caregivers’ impression of the daily functioning of patients improved in the Frontal Behavioral Inventory scores. These changes were not paralleled by an improvement of mood.
Conclusion
The results indicate that rTMS may improve the cognitive performance of patients with FTD and warrant sham-controlled trials.
Video abstract
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Disclosure
In March 2016, Jakub Antczak received gratification of the equivalent of 183 USD (700 Polish Zloty - PLN) for a TMS teaching course sponsored by Elmiko Medical Sp. z o.o., the Polish distributor of PowerMAG Repetitive Magnetic Stimulator (Heitec AG, Erlangen, Germany). In June 2009, he also received the reimbursement of travel costs and a participation fee to attend the Magstim TMS Summer School for similar teaching for the Polish distributor of Magstim magnetic stimulators (Ma-Je-R Sp. z o.o.). The authors report no other conflicts of interests in this work.