[Frontotemporal dementia].

BACKGROUND Among the primary degenerative dementias, frontotemporal dementia (FTD, Pick's disease) is very important along with Alzheimer's disease. The estimated prevalence is 15:100,000 in the 45- to 64-year-old population; thus, it appears that the FTD as a cause for so-called presenile dementia is nearly as common as Alzheimer's disease. CASE REPORT The case of a 52-year-old woman is described that presented with slowly progressive lack of concentration and disturbance of memory. Furthermore, the immediate family had noticed a change in her premorbid personality. Due to additional depressive symptoms, she was misdiagnosed with depressive pseudodementia first. CONCLUSION Since the clinical presentation of FTD is variable and the correct classification has been uncertain for a long time, clinical diagnosis can be very difficult, so that the disease is often detected too late or remains completely misdiagnosed. On this basis, pathology, clinical aspects, diagnosis, and therapeutic options of FTD will be demonstrated according to current standards of knowledge.