This is an important piece of the puzzle now falling into place, as we can see how individuals with frontotemporal dementia experience empathy," says Alexander Santillo, researcher and associate professor of psychiatry at MultiPark, Lund University and senior consultant in psychiatry.
Around 25 000 Swedes are affected by dementia every year. Of these, about three percent are diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia. The disease is difficult to diagnose, but one of its characteristics is that sufferers lose the ability to empathize, which can lead to problems for them, and not least for their relatives.
In the current study, led by researchers Olof Lindberg at Karolinska Institutet and Alexander Santillo at MultiPark, Lund University, 28 patients diagnosed with frontal lobe dementia were analyzed using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).
The researchers were able to see how the subjects' brain activity was affected when they were shown images of hands being penetrated by needles, which normally activates the parts of the brain that tend to react to the experience of suffering or pain in others.
The study shows that people with frontotemporal dementia do not display any activation of the frontal brain networks that are activated in the control group of age-matched healthy individuals.
Read the press release (From KI).
This study was funded by ALF, The Bundy Academy, The Schörling Foundation, and The Åke Wiberg Foundation.
