The Bruce Willis family has confirmed this Thursday that the actor suffers frontotemporal dementia, a type of disorder that has no cure and whose diagnosis is complex. The disease is caused by a group of disorders that gradually damage the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain, areas generally associated with personality, behavior and language.
Due to its symptoms, which can vary depending on the person and the specific area affected, it can be misdiagnosed as a psychiatric problem or Alzheimer’s disease. However, frontotemporal dementia tends to occur in eearliest data. specifically between 40 and 65 years old.
It is a neurodegenerative disease whose symptoms gradually worsen over time. The most common are changes in behavior and personality.
Increasingly inappropriate social behavior
Loss of empathy and other interpersonal skills, such as being sensitive to the feelings of others
Lack of judgment
loss of inhibition
Lack of interest (apathy), which can be confused with depression
Repetitive compulsive behavior, such as tapping, clapping, or lip smacking
A decrease in personal hygiene
Changes in eating habits, usually overeating or developing a preference for sweets and carbohydrates
eating inedible objects
Compulsively wanting to put things in the mouth.
Speech and language problems
In addition, everything indicates that Bruce Willis suffers from a subtype of frontotemporal dementia that causes a special loss of speech. The primary progressive aphasiathe first diagnosis given to the American actor, is considered frontotemporal dementia.
In spain More than 350,000 people suffer from aphasia and each year some 25,000 new cases occur, says the Spanish Society of Neurology (SEN) in a statement. As for frontotemporal dementia, it is estimated that it affects 0.2-0.3% of the population over 65 years of age, of which 20-40% would correspond to cases with primary progressive aphasia.
Aphasia is not a disease, it is a symptom that a brain lesion has occurred and the causes may be diverse, explains the SEN. However, the main causes of aphasia are: having suffered a stroke, a head injury, an infection (such as encephalitis), a brain tumor, or some type of neurodegenerative disease (such as Parkinson’s or some type of dementia). such as Alzheimer’s or frontotemporal dementia).
The approach to the disease is symptomatic, that is, it is aimed at controlling the symptoms, since lacks specific treatment and there is currently no evidence that any treatment can modify the course of the disease. Frontotemporal dementia is the third most common cause of neurodegenerative dementia, after Alzheimer’s disease and dementia with Lewy bodies.