@article{discovery10138999,
         journal = {Alzheimer's Research and Therapy},
          number = {1},
           title = {Prodromal frontotemporal dementia: clinical features and predictors of progression},
            year = {2021},
           month = {December},
          volume = {13},
            note = {This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made.},
            issn = {1758-9193},
        abstract = {Background: The prodromal phase of frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is still not well characterized, and conversion rates to dementia and predictors of progression at 1-year follow-up are currently unknown. // Methods: In this retrospective study, disease severity was assessed using the global CDR plus NACC FTLD. Prodromal FTD was defined to reflect mild cognitive or behavioural impairment with relatively preserved functional independence (global CDR plus NACC = 0.5) as well as mild, moderate and severe dementia (classified as global CDR plus NACC = 1, 2, 3, respectively). Disease progression at 1-year follow-up and serum NfL measurements were acquired in a subgroup of patients. // Results: Of 563 participants, 138 were classified as prodromal FTD, 130 as mild, 175 as moderate and 120 as severe FTD. In the prodromal and mild phases, we observed an early increase in serum NfL levels followed by behavioural disturbances and deficits in executive functions. Negative symptoms, such as apathy, inflexibility and loss of insight, predominated in the prodromal phase. Serum NfL levels were significantly increased in the prodromal phase compared with healthy controls (average difference 14.5, 95\% CI 2.9 to 26.1 pg/mL), but lower than in patients with mild FTD (average difference -15.5, 95\% CI -28.4 to -2.7 pg/mL). At 1-year follow-up, 51.2\% of patients in the prodromal phase had converted to dementia. Serum NfL measurements at baseline were the strongest predictors of disease progression at 1-year follow-up (OR 1.07, 95\% CI 1.03 to 1.11, p {\ensuremath{<}} 0.001). // Conclusions: Prodromal FTD is a mutable stage with high rate of progression to fully symptomatic disease at 1-year follow-up. High serum NfL levels may support prodromal FTD diagnosis and represent a helpful marker to assess disease progression.},
          author = {Benussi, A and Ashton, NJ and Karikari, TK and Alberici, A and Saraceno, C and Ghidoni, R and Benussi, L and Zetterberg, H and Blennow, K and Borroni, B},
             url = {https://doi.org/10.1186/s13195-021-00932-2}
}