View clinical trials related to Frontotemporal Dementia.
Filter by:This is a clinical trial of bone marrow transplantation for patients with the diagnosis of a genetic disease of blood cells that do not have an HLA-matched sibling donor. Genetic diseases of blood cell include: Red blood cell defects e.g. hemoglobinopathies (sickle cell disease and thalassemia), Blackfan-Diamond anemia and congenital or chronic hemolytic anemias; White blood cells defects/immune deficiencies e.g. chronic granulomatous disease, Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome,Osteopetrosis, Kostmann's syndrome (congenital neutropenia), Hereditary Lymphohistiocytosis (HLH); Platelets defects e.g.Congenital amegakaryocytic thrombocytopenia; Metabolic/storage disorders e.g. leukodystrophies,mucopolysaccharidoses as Hurler disease;Stem cell defects e.g.reticular agenesis, among many other rare similar conditions. The study treatment plan uses a new transplant treatment regimen that aims to try to decrease the acute toxicities and complications associated with the standard treatment plans and to improve outcome The blood stem cells will be derived from either unrelated donor or unrelated umbilical cord blood.
This study will measure the function of a protein called P-glycoprotein (P-gp), which is found at the blood-brain barrier, a membrane that normally prevents toxic material from entering the brain. Impaired P-gp function may allow toxins to enter the brain and cause some people to develop certain brain diseases. Healthy subjects and people with Alzheimer s disease, Parkinson s disease or frontotemporal dementia who are 35 years of age or older and in overall good health may be eligible for this study. Participants undergo the following procedures during three outpatient visits to the NIH Clinical Center: - Medical history, psychological evaluation, physical examination and blood and urine tests, including tests for illegal and addictive drugs. - PET scan: This test uses small amounts of a radioactive chemical called a tracer that labels active areas of the brain so the activity can be seen with a special camera. Before starting the scan, a catheter (plastic tube) is placed in a vein in the arm to inject the tracer. The subject lies on the scanner bed, with a special mask fitted to the head and attached to the bed to help keep the head still during the scan so the images obtained are clear. A brief initial scan is done to calibrate the scanner. Then, a radioactive tracer called [(15)O]H(2)O is injected into the catheter and the PET camera takes pictures of blood flow to the brain for about 60 seconds. Next, another tracer, [(11)C]dLop, is injected into the catheter and pictures are taken for about 2 hours to determine how much of this tracer is allowed to enter the brain. - Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI): This procedure is done within 1 year (before or after) the PET scan. MRI uses a magnetic field and radio waves to produce images of the brain. For this procedure, the patient lies on a table that can slide in and out of the scanner (a tube-like device), wearing earplugs to muffle loud knocking and thumping sounds that occur during the scan.
This study will use positron emission tomography (PET) imaging to measure a receptor in the brain that is involved in inflammation. Certain neurological disorders, possibly including frontotemporal dementia (FTD), are associated with increased inflammation in the brain. This study may help elucidate the relationship between FTD and inflammation. Patients with FTD and healthy volunteers who are 35 years of age or older may be eligible for this study. Candidates are screened with a medical history, physical examination, electrocardiogram, and blood and urine tests. Participants undergo the following procedures: - Whole body PET scan: PET uses small amounts of a radioactive chemical called a tracer that labels active areas of the brain so the activity can be seen with a special camera. The tracer used in this study is [11C]PBR28. Before starting the scan, a catheter (plastic tube) is placed in a vein in the arm to inject the tracer. Pictures are taken for 1 hour. This short scan is done to determine if [11C]PBR28 binds to the subject s receptors, since a number of people do not have binding. Subjects who have binding continue with brain PET and MRI scans, described below. - Brain PET imaging: Before starting the scan, a catheter is placed in a vein in the arm to inject the tracer,<TAB> and another catheter is placed in an artery in the wrist to obtain blood samples during the scan. The subject lies on the scanner bed. A special mask is fitted to the head and attached to the bed to help keep the person s head still during the scan so the images will be clear. An 8-minute transmission scan is done just before the tracer is injected to provide measures of the brain that are helpful in calculating information from subsequent scans. After the tracer is injected, pictures are taken for about 2.5 hours, while the subject lies still on the scanner bed. - Blood and urine tests are done the day of and the day following each PET scan. - Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI): An MRI scan is done within 1 year (before or after) of the PET scan. This procedure uses a magnetic field and radio waves to produce images of the brain. The subject lies on a table that is moved into the scanner (a tube-like device), wearing earplugs to muffle the noise of the machine during the scanning process. The test takes about 1 hour....
This study will test the effects of a medication called tolcapone on cognitive, behavioral, and language problems seen in patients with frontotemporal dementia (FTD). Tolcapone increases the amount of dopamine, a brain chemical that may be lowered in FTD. The study will see if tolcapone can improve thinking, behavior, and language in people with FTD and will look at the effects of the drug on brain activity. Patients with FTD who are between 40 and 85 years of age may be eligible for this study. Participants will be seen as outpatients at the Columbia University Medical Center approximately one a week for 4 weeks. They take tolcapone or a placebo (a look-alike pill with no active ingredient) during study week 1. During study week 3, those who took placebo during week 1 now take tolcapone for 1 week and those who took tolcapone now take placebo. In addition, patients undergo the following tests and procedures: - Neurological tests to evaluate attention, problem-solving and memory. These tests are repeated several times during the course of the study. - Test to look for a gene that affects the amount of dopamine in the brain, using blood samples collected in a previous study. - Blood draws four times during the study. - Functional MRI (fMRI) to learn about changes in brain regions that are involved in performing tasks. For fMRI, the patient lies on a table that can slide in and out of the scanner, a narrow metal cylinder surrounded by a magnetic field. The procedure takes about 60 minutes and is performed four times over the course of the . FMRI involves taking pictures of the brain during MRI while the subject performs a task so that changes in the brain that occur during these tasks can be studied.
Memantine has been approved for use in Alzheimer's disease. Its mechanism of action raises questions of whether it can also be effective for non-Alzheimer's dementias such as frontotemporal dementia (FTD), which currently has no disease-modifying treatment. This is an open-label study to probe the effects of memantine in 15 outpatients diagnosed with FTD, as shown objectively by comparing PET scans performed before and after use of the medication. The specific type of PET scan, FDG-PET, allows the investigators to gauge the effects of memantine on cortical activity levels. The investigators hypothesize that subjects on memantine will show normalization of cortical metabolic activity.
The primary objective of the study is to determine whether memantine is effective in slowing the rate of behavioral decline in frontotemporal dementia. The secondary objective of the study is to assess the safety and tolerability of long-term treatment with memantine in patients with frontotemporal dementia (FTD) or semantic dementia (SD). To determine whether memantine is effective in slowing the rate of cognitive decline in frontotemporal dementia. To evaluate whether memantine delays or decreases the emergence of parkinsonism in frontotemporal dementia. The tertiary objective of the study is to determine whether treatment with memantine affects changes in weight
The purpose of this study is to explore the safety and tolerability and the efficacy of galantamine treatment in subjects with Pick Complex/ Frontotemporal Dementia (PC/FTD). The safety and tolerability of galantamine therapy will be assessed over the entire treatment period (26 weeks). The 8 week withdrawal period will be used to confirm the safety of galantamine withdrawal in this subject group and it impact on any symptom improvement achieved during the first 18 weeks of galantamine treatment ( symptom improvement would be expected to stabilize or decline on withdrawal of an effective therapy). The primary efficacy objective is to explore the effect of galantamine on behavior as measured by the Frontal Behavioral Inventory during the randomized withdrawal period. In addition, for subjects with primary progressive aphasia (limited ability for languages), the effects of galantamine on language will be explored using the Aphasia Quotient of the Western Aphasia Battery, and for all subjects the Clinical Global Impressions will be used to explore global change.
Frontotemporal lobar degeneration(FTLD) is a common cause of early-onset dementia. FTLD is characterized multiple behavioral symptoms including mental rigidity, irritability, emotional blunting, disinhibition, apathy, and aggression. These behavioural disturbances are particularly important because they increase caregiver burden and may lead to earlier institutionalization. While the causes of FTLD are largely unknown, there is a great deal of evidence suggesting that a brain chemical called serotonin regulates many of the behaviours that are disturbed in FTLD. Our objective is therefore to determine whether dysfunction in the brain's serotonin system is responsible for behavioural problems among FTLD patients. We hope to take the first steps towards a scientific understanding of the behavioural symptoms of FTD, and use our findings to support a larger study optimizing the treatment of targeted behavioural disturbances in FTLD using the antidepressant citalopram. Citalopram increases transmission by serotonin; we plan to use this medication to determine whether there are any differences in how the serotonin system functions in FTLD patients who display different levels of behavioural disturbances. Patients will be given citalopram and will have their blood drawn after 2 and 3 hours to determine plasma levels of the hormones cortisol and prolactin at those times. These hormones are good indicators of serotonergic functioning in the central nervous system. We expect that patients with lower levels of serotonergic functioning will have more severe behavioural disturbances and be less responsive to treatment with citalopram. Following their first test day, we will provide patients with a 6-week supply of citalopram, and assess them for any changes in behaviour at the end of this treatment. This study aims to obtain a better understanding of how changes in the serotonin system relate to behavioural symptoms in FTLD patients. Using the information from this pilot study, we can plan a larger study to determine whether certain behaviours will respond to treatment with citalopram, and if so, determine whether it is possible to predict which patients, based on individual characteristics, are most likely to respond to this treatment. This methodology will therefore not only provide a scientific rationale for treatment of FTLD, but also provide guidance for ongoing, individualized therapy.
This study is done in conjunction with a trial, conducted at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York and the Royal Manchester Children's Hospital in England, to examine the effectiveness of a new drug called OGT 918 for treating Niemann-Pick Type C (NPC) disease. Patients with this genetic disorder do not transport lipids (fatty substances) in their cells, resulting in problems of the liver, spleen and brain. An early sign of NPC is a reduced ability to move the eyes rapidly up and down or from side to side. These voluntary eye movements are called saccades. Patients in the OGT 918 trial who participate in this sub-study will have their saccadic eye movements measured to see if improvement occurs with OGT 918 treatment. Patients with Niemann-Pick Type C disease 12 years of age and older who are enrolled in the OGT 918 trial described above may be eligible for this study. Participants will have both vertical (up and down) and horizontal (side to side) saccadic eye movements measured at two time points before starting treatment with OGT 918 and after 12 months of treatment. For the test, patients sit in a chair with their head positioned as for a regular eye examination (steadied by a chin cup and headrest) and follow with their eyes a series of lights or laser spots moving on a screen at a distance of 1 meter (3 feet). During the test, patients wear either special recording glasses, infrared goggles, or special contact lenses for measuring eye movements. A full eye evaluation lasts about 1 hour, and each eye is evaluated twice. The evaluations are separated in time by at least an hour, and possibly a day.
The purpose of this trial is to assess the efficacy and tolerability of memantine (anti-excitotoxic, neuroprotective treatment currently used in Alzheimer's disease [AD]) in frontotemporal dementia patients after a one-year treatment.