New Diagnostic Criteria for the Behavioural Variant of Frontotemporal Dementia

In September 2011, the International Behavioural Variant Frontotemporal Dementia Criteria Consortium established a new set of clinical diagnostic criteria for the behavioural variant of frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD). Following the 1998 criteria by Neary et al., where five core items had to be present to make a diagnosis of bvFTD, the new criteria incorporate six clinical hallmarks and demand that at least three of these are present. Moreover, a degree of probability and a role for neuroimaging findings are introduced within the criteria. The new diagnostic criteria have a sensitivity of 76 % for probable bvFTD and a sensitivity of 86 % for possible bvFTD. They provide a good starting point for a more accurate diagnosis of bvFTD.