Frontotemporale

Frontotemporale is a term used in anatomy and neurology to describe the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain, or diseases that predominantly affect these regions. In Italian medical literature, it is commonly used to refer to the frontotemporal area and to frontotemporal dementia when describing related disorders.

Anatomy and function

The frontal lobes lie at the front of the brain and are important for executive functions, decision making, planning, impulse control, and voluntary movement. The temporal lobes, located on the sides of the brain, are involved in auditory processing, language, memory, and aspects of social cognition. Subregions such as the orbitofrontal cortex and anterior temporal regions have particularly strong roles in behavior and language.

Clinical relevance

Regions in the frontotemporal area can be affected by a group of neurodegenerative disorders known as frontotemporal dementia (FTD) or frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD). These conditions often present with early changes in personality, behavior, or language, and may show relatively spared episodic memory in early stages. Main clinical variants include behavioral variant FTD and primary progressive aphasia, which itself has semantic and nonfluent/agrammatic subtypes.

Diagnosis and management

Diagnosis combines clinical evaluation with neuroimaging that typically reveals atrophy or hypometabolism in the frontal and/or temporal lobes. Genetic associations have been identified (for example, mutations or expansions in C9orf72, MAPT, and GRN), though many cases are sporadic. There is no cure; treatment focuses on symptom management, supportive care, and multidisciplinary planning.

See also: frontotemporal dementia, frontotemporal lobar degeneration.