Early-onset dementia catches patients while they are still working and still parenting. This project, in collaboration with Dalhousie University, the Canadian Dementia Knowledge Translation Network, the Young Carers Initiative, and McMaster University's Gilbrae Centre was funded in 2011 to develop educational materials on FTD and caregiving for children living with someone who has dementia. The resulting website features content gleaned from focus groups conducted with children ages 12-19. www.lifeandminds.ca/whendementiaisinthehouse launched November 15th, 2011.
For those who cannot access the internet, informational booklets containing the web content will be distributed to organizations such as the Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration and the Alzheimer Society, courtesy of the National Initiative for the Care of the Elderly and CDKTN.
It is not yet known whether amyloid deposition typically associated with Alzheimer's disease is also present in older patients with FTD. We have been funded by the National Institute on Aging to use PET imaging with Pittsburgh Compound B at the Centre for Mental Health and Addiction to answer this question. To check whether you are eligible to participate, please contact minhquan_nguyen@camh.net.
Masters of Science candidate Christina Forsyth is studying the effects of a drug commonly used for controlling symptoms of FTD on young and older men without dementia. Using a non-invasive brain scanning technique called functional magnetic resonance imaging, this study will investigate parts of the brain that are important for emotional processing in normal healthy aging before and after taking citalopram. We will also investigate how genetic variations can impact alterations in brain function associated with mood and feeling. [Clinical Trials.gov NCT01216449]. For more information on how to participate, please download the .pdf and contact Ms. Forsyth.
Post-doctoral Fellow Norm Farb will be studying the effects of mindfulness training in patients with frontotemporal dementia and their caregivers. His doctoral thesis from the University of Toronto showed effects on control subjects and those with depression in a part of the brain hard-hit by FTD, the insula. For more information on how to participate, please download the .pdf and contact Dr. Farb.
In order to confirm the 4-stage model of dementia progression, we're tracking clinic patients' symptoms over time with the Functional Rating Scale, Clinical Dementia Rating Scale Modified for FTD by the Mayo group, Frontal Behavioural Inventory (Andy Kertesz), and Neuropsychiatric Inventory (Jeff Cummings and Dan Kaufer). Summer students are helping us contact caregivers to complete these instruments annually.
To track patients who are too advanced in illness to be measured with the MMSE, we are using the Severe Impairment Battery. Grab a Severe Impairment Battery worksheet to compare your scoring against our tutorial video below...
www.lifeandminds.ca/whendementiaisinthehouse launched November 15th, 2011, as the first phase of our educational materials on FTD and caregiving for children living with someone who has dementia. This website features tips for parents and child caregivers gleaned from focus groups conducted with children ages 12-19 who have years of experience.
A more recent talk with slides is available at http://geriatricresearch.medicine.dal.ca
Related info about aging and the lifespan
Click here for access to the slides from Jan. 2011 talk
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