Currently, there is no cure for FTD, but there are treatments that help alleviate symptoms. Signs and symptoms
Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is an early-onset disorder that mostly occurs before the age of 65, but can begin earlier, and in 20–25% of cases onset is later. It is the most common early presenting dementia.The International Classification of Diseases recognizes the disease as causative to disorder affecting mental and behavioural aspects of the human organism. Dissociation from family, extreme oniomania, vulgar speech characteristics, screaming, inability to control emotions, behavior, personality, and temperament are characteristic social display patterns. A gradual onset and progression of changes in behavior or language deficits are reported to have begun several years prior to presentation to a neurologist. Subtypes and related disorders
The main subtypes of frontotemporal dementia are behavioral variant FTD, semantic dementia, progressive nonfluent aphasia, and FTD associated with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (FTD–ALS). Two distinct rare subtypes are neuronal intermediate filament inclusion disease, and basophilic inclusion body disease. Related disorders are corticobasal syndrome, and progressive supranuclear palsy. Behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia
Behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (BvFTD) was previously known as Picks disease, and is the most common of the FTD types. BvFTD is diagnosed four times as often as the PPA variants. Behavior can change in BvFTD in either of two ways—it can change to being impulsive and disinhibited, acting in socially unacceptable ways; or it can change to being listless and apathetic.
Binge eating habits are often associated  with changes in food preferences (cravings for more sweets, carbohydrates), eating inedible objects and snatching food from others. Recent findings from structural MRI research have indicated that eating changes in FTD are associated with atrophy (wasting) in the right ventral insula, striatum, and orbitofrontal cortex.People with FTD show marked deficiencies in executive functioning and working memory. Most become unable to perform skills that require complex planning or sequencing. In addition to the characteristic cognitive dysfunction, a number of primitive reflexes known as frontal release signs are often able to be elicited. Usually the first of these frontal release signs to appear is the palmomental reflex which appears relatively early in the disease course whereas the palmar grasp reflex and rooting reflex appear late in the disease course.In rare cases, FTD can occur in people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) a motor neuron disease. The prognosis for people with ALS is worse when combined with FTD, shortening survival by about a year. Genetics
A higher proportion of frontotemporal dementias seem to have a familial component than other neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimers disease. More and more mutations and genetic variants are being identified all the time, needing constant updating of genetic influences. Tau-positive frontotemporal dementia and parkinsonism linked to chromosome 17 (FTDP-17) is caused by mutations in the MAPT gene on chromosome 17 that encodes the tau protein. It has been determined that there is a direct relationship between the type of tau mutation and the neuropathology of gene mutations.