Advanced theory of mind assessment in frontotemporal dementia
Research type
Research Study
Full title
An investigation of the utility of advanced theory of mind assessment for the detection of Frontotemporal dementia
IRAS ID
216883
Contact name
Bethany M Coad
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Cardiff University
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 11 months, 28 days
Research summary
Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is the second most common form of dementia in people aged under 65. There are several different types of FTD but the most common is the behavioural variant (bvFTD). The most prominent symptoms of bvFTD are changes in social skills and personality, but despite profound changes in this area, accurately identifying these changes for diagnostic purposes can be a challenge. This is largely because standard dementia tests do not identify changes in social skills and therefore individuals with bvFTD often perform well on dementia assessments. Identifying tests that are sensitive to changes in social skills that can be used in clinics may help improve the ability of doctors to detect the early signs of bvFTD. For this work patients who are referred to a memory clinic with possible FTD will be approached. Individuals who take part will complete a testing session lasting around an hour, arranged at a time to suit them. They will be asked to complete novel tasks that have been designed to assess elements of social understanding relevant to bvFTD. Brief interviews will be carried out with members of their family to discuss any social changes that the family member has observed. The work will look to see how individual performance on the novel tasks relates to descriptions of the patients’ behaviour provided by members of their family and existing images of the patient’s brain previously obtained through clinical magnetic resonance imaging. It is hoped that different patterns of performance will be seen across the different FTD diagnoses. This would suggest that these tasks may be helpful in distinguishing between different types of FTD and therefore have the potential to assist in diagnostic decision making.
REC name
West Midlands - Edgbaston Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/WM/0024
Date of REC Opinion
8 Feb 2017
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion