Ftd Quotes

Bruce Miller, a neurologist at the University of California, San Francisco, studies elderly patients with a relatively common form of brain disease called frontotemporal dementia, or FTD. He’s found that in some cases where the FTD is localized on the left side of the brain, people who had never picked up a paintbrush or an instrument can develop extraordinary artistic and musical abilities at the very end of their lives. As their other cognitive skills fade away, they become narrow savants.

He pulled a spiral-bound pad labeled “Conference Notes, 2013” off the shelf. He flipped through the scribbled pages. “European rat snake! Also known colloquially as the ‘Aesculapian snake,’” he read aloud, “and widely believed to be the serpent traditionally identified with Asclepius.” “Who?” “He’s a Greek god of medicine and healing. The Romans called him Aesculapius,” he said absently, his mind beginning to turn. “Carries around a staff with a snake twirled around it.” “You mean like the FTD guy in the florist windows?” “The FTD guy—Hermes? That’s a caduceus. With two snakes. You’re breaking my heart. Have you listened to anything I’ve said in the last ten years?

While Alzheimer’s ranks as the most common form of dementia, FTD ranks as the most common form of dementia for people under sixty. That makes this a critical story.