• Stefano Zago, Barbara Poletti, Claudia Morelli, Alberto Doretti, and Vincenzo Silani.
• Department of Neurological Sciences, Università degli Studi di Milano, Medical School IRCCS, Fondazione Ca' Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, IRCCS Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Milano, Italy. stefano.zago@unimi.it
• Arch Ital Biol. 2011 Mar 1; 149 (1): 39-56.

AbstractThere is increasing clinical, imaging and neurophatological evidence that amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) represents a multisystem neurodegenerative disease. Neurodegeneration is not restricted to motor neurons, but also includes parts of the brain other than the motor cortex, especially the prefrontal and/or anterior temporal lobe, that contribute to the clinical syndrome. In some cases an evident dementia that resembles frontotemporal degeneration (FTD) was observed. It is now suggested that ALS and FTD are closely related conditions with overlapping clinical, pathological, radiological, and genetic characteristics. The presence of a frontal dementia in ALS has also crucial practical consequences for management of the patients, whose disorder requires critical life decisions for enteral nutrition and respiratory complications. It is our intent to provide a brief overview of the relationships between ALS and FTD.

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