Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is a clinical syndrome caused by degeneration of the frontal lobe of the brain and may extend back to the temporal lobe.  It is one of three syndromes caused by frontotemporal lobar degeneration.
Symptoms can be classified (roughly) into two groups which underlie the functions of the frontal lobe: behavioural symptoms (and/or personality change) and symptoms related to problems with executive function.
Behavioural symptoms include apathy and aspontaneity or oppositely disinhibition. Apathetic patients may become socially withdrawn and stay in bed all day or no longer take care of themselves. Disinhibited patients can make inappropriate (sometimes sexual) comments or perform inappropriate acts. Patients with FTD can sometimes get into trouble with the police because of inappropriate behaviour such as stealing.
Executive function is the cognitive skill of planning and organizing - patients become unable to perform skills that require complex planning or sequencing.
FTD can occur in patients with motor neuron disease (also known in the US as Lou Gehrig's disease or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) in a small number of cases. The prognosis for people with MND is worse when combined with FTD, shortening survival by about a year.
Because FTD often occurs in younger people (i.e. in their 40's or 50's), it can severely effect families.  Patients often still have children living in the home.  Financially, it can be devastating as the disease strikes at the time of life that are often the top wage earning years.
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