From August 31 to September 2, 2016, clinicians and researchers from around the world met in Munich, Germany to present and discuss the newest findings on frontotemporal dementias at the 10th International Conference on Frontotemporal Dementias (ICFTD). The Penn FTD center was proud to participate! The emphasis at the 2016 ICFTD was clear: biomarkers are essential for tracking disease progression in FTD and selecting patients for treatment trials. Biomarkers, a shortened ter

In his presentation at our 2021 Caregiver Conference, Penn FTD Center co-director and cognitive neurologist Dr. David Irwin highlighted that a clinical diagnosis of FTD can tell us what changes and symptoms to expect, but it does not identify the pathology in the brain, the true cause of the disease. Predicting pathology is key to future treatments for FTD, and for that we need “biomarkers”. To understand why a clinical diagnosis does not predict pathology, we must first kn