Bruce Willis's family has revealed that the actor, already retired for a year, suffers from frontotemporal dementia. What is this disease? What symptoms do you have and how do they relate to the aphasia suffered by Willis? What is the life expectancy of people who suffer from this disease?
Frontotemporal dementia is caused, as the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) points out, by a group of disorders that gradually damage the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain. These damages cause alterations in thought and behavior. In addition, and according to the Spanish Society of Neurology, it is the third most common cause of neurodegenerative dementia, after Alzheimer's and dementia with Lewy bodies.
This disease tends to develop at an earlier age than other dementias. Approximately 60% of people with frontotemporal dementia are between the ages of 45 and 64.
Within the different variants that exist in this type of dementia, there are several types of disorders that can cause it. The behavioral variant is the most common, and causes changes in personality, behavior, emotions, and judgment. There is also primary progressive aphasia, which "involves changes in the ability to communicate, that is, to speak, read, write and understand what others say," reflects the HHS specialized dementia portal. The third group of disorders are those that affect movement, and they occur when the parts of the brain that control movement are affected —which can lead to variants of Parkinson's or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
Bruce Willis first revealed that he had been diagnosed with aphasia, as he suffered from a loss of the ability to express or understand spoken or written language as a result of damage to the areas of the brain that control language. Now, the family has revealed that this aphasia is due to frontotemporal dementia.
This affectation of language is one of the symptoms, among which are included, according to the HHS:
Frontotemporal dementia is progressive, which means that symptoms get worse over time. In addition, according to the United States Association for Frontotemporal Dementia (AFTD), "there are currently no approved treatments and no cure."
The US Department of Health notes that some people live more than 10 years after being diagnosed, while others live less than 2 years after being diagnosed.
