Mailbox Response

The question was submitted Saturday, 10 January 2009

Subject: frontal temporal dementia

I was told by the neosurgeon that my husband brain was shinking, he is in the early stages of this FTD I think.
How far along is the FTD?

Answer from DementiaNet

I suspect the neurosurgeon made his comment based on the CT result.  The main purpose of brain imaging is to exclude major pathology in the brain such as tumours, haemorrhage or stroke. Imaging can also show if there is some “shrinking” but it is only a crude measure and cannot be used in any way  to predict the severity of a dementia nor how rapidly the dementia might progress. This can only be done by skilled clinicians taking many factors into account, of which the “shrinkage” is the least important.

The answer was published on DementiaNet Friday, 16 January 2009