title: [Semantic dementia: clinical profile and cognitive-neuropsychological relevance].
abstract: Semantic Dementia (SD) represents a rare variant of presenile primary degenerative diseases of "frontotemporal lobar degenerations" (FTLD). SD is characterized by anterior-temporal atrophy and a selective semantic deficit. Neuropsychological impairment either bears on fluent aphasia with marked naming and comprehension difficulties or on a disorder of object recognition or on both. Behavioural alterations such as stereotyped behaviour and change in food preference become prominent as the disease progresses and are interpreted as a correlative for the pathological spreading to frontal structures. Since SD is often misclassified as Alzheimer's disease (AD), but calls for a different management, diagnostic consensus criteria by Neary and colleagues are depicted. The neuropsychological profile is described in detail and complemented by a case report. Implications from the dissociation of disturbed memory systems of SD (semantic) and AD (episodic) for models of long-term memory are discussed in terms of connectivity in the medial temporal lobe. SD can contribute to a better understanding of the structure and organisation of the semantic system.
authors.affiliation: Universitätsklinikum Magdeburg, Sektion Neuropsychologie der Klinik für Neurologie, Magdeburg. inka.eisfeld@medizin.uni-magdeburg.de
authors.forename: I S
authors.initials: IS
authors.lastname: Eisfeld
mesh_terms: D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D003704:Dementia / Q000145:classification / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D009484:Neuropsychology; D012660:Semantics