Diagnosing Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration

March 25, 2025 updated by: Carmela Tartaglia, University Health Network, Toronto

Multimodal Assessment for Predicting Specific Pathological Substrate in Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration

To establish diagnostic tools to make an accurate clinical and pathological diagnosis of patients with clinical FTLD syndromes

Study Overview

Status

Status

Indicates the current recruitment status or the expanded access status.
Recruiting

Conditions

Conditions

The disease, disorder, syndrome, illness, or injury that is being studied. On ClinicalTrials.gov, conditions may also include other health-related issues, such as lifespan, quality of life, and health risks.

Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.

Detailed Description

The goal of this study is to determine the best diagnostic test for diagnosing frontotemporal lobar degeneration. To accomplish this, the current study will evaluate different tests: brain imaging, skin biopsy, body fluid samples (blood and cerebrospinal fluid), thinking abilities, everyday functioning, and brain autopsy. The study team hopes that this information can be used to guide diagnosis and further understanding of mechanism of disease in Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration and possibly treatment in the future.

Study Type

Study Type

Describes the nature of a clinical study. Study types include interventional studies (also called clinical trials), observational studies (including patient registries), and expanded access.
Observational

Enrollment (Estimated)

Enrollment

The number of participants in a clinical study. The "anticipated" enrollment is the target number of participants that the researchers need for the study.
100

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Contact

The name and contact information for the person who can answer enrollment questions for a clinical study. Each location where the study is being conducted may also have a specific contact, who may be better able to answer those questions.

Study Locations

  • Canada
    • Ontario
      • Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5T 2S8
        • Recruiting
        • Toronto Western Hospital, University Health Network
        • Contact:

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

The key requirements that people who want to participate in a clinical study must meet or the characteristics they must have. Eligibility criteria consist of both inclusion criteria (which are required for a person to participate in the study) and exclusion criteria (which prevent a person from participating). Types of eligibility criteria include whether a study accepts healthy volunteers, has age or age group requirements, or is limited by sex.

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years to 90 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Sampling Method

Probability Sample

Study Population

Patients with a diagnosis of progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), corticobasal syndrome (CBS), semantic variant primary progressive aphasia (sv-PPA), non-fluent variant PPA (nfv-PPA), behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) or FTD-motor neuron disease (FTD-MND).

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Participant must have a reliable study partner who can provide an independent evaluation of functioning.
  • Able to read, understand and speak English for neuropsychological testing.
  • All subjects must meet one of these diagnostic criteria (A) probable behavioral variant FTD, (B) MRI-supported non-fluent variant PPA; (C) MRI-supported semantic variant PPA and [18F]T807 negative (D) probable CBS: using current criteria for CBS(27); (E) PSP: inclusion criteria for PSP are based upon the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke Society of Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (NINDS-SPSP) (F) FTD-MND
  • Control subjects must have a normal neurological exam, a CDR sum of boxes = 0, and MMSE score equal to or greater than 28

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Patients with clinical, imaging or CSF A beta/ tau profile consistent with AD
  • History of traumatic brain injury, brain tumors, stroke or other neurological or psychiatric disorders that can explain symptoms will be excluded.
  • Premenopausal women will be asked to consent to a pregnancy test prior to each scan as pregnant women will be excluded from study because of potential harm to fetus from PET study.
  • Presence of pacemakers, aneurysm clips, artificial heart valves, ear implants, metal fragments or foreign objects in the eyes, skin or body.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort

Group / Cohort

A group or subgroup of participants in an observational study that is assessed for biomedical or health outcomes.
Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.
Progressive supranuclear palsy
Observational Study
Other: Observational Study
Corticobasal syndrome
Observational Study
Other: Observational Study
Behavoral variant FTD
Observational Study
Other: Observational Study
Semantic variant PPA
Observational Study
Other: Observational Study
Non-fluent variant PPA
Observational Study
Other: Observational Study
FTD-motor neuron disease
Observational Study
Other: Observational Study
Healthy controls
Observational Study
Other: Observational Study

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, the planned outcome measure that is the most important for evaluating the effect of an intervention/treatment. Most clinical studies have one primary outcome measure, but some have more than one.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Structural and Functional Diffferences between the FTLD groups via MRI of the brain
Time Frame: One time visit through study completion of 5 years
Differences in brain volumes and resting state functional connectivity
One time visit through study completion of 5 years
Differences between the FTLD groups via PET imaging of the brain
Time Frame: One time visit through study completion of 5 years
Differences in ligand uptake
One time visit through study completion of 5 years

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Sponsor

The organization or person who initiates the study and who has authority and control over the study.
University Health Network, Toronto

Investigators

Investigators

A researcher involved in a clinical study. Related terms include site principal investigator, site sub-investigator, study chair, study director, and study principal investigator.
  • Principal Investigator: Maria C Tartaglia, M.D., Toronto Western Hospital, UHN; Tanz CRND

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

Study Start

The actual date on which the first participant was enrolled in a clinical study. The "anticipated" study start date is the date that the researchers think will be the study start date.
August 1, 2015

Primary Completion (Estimated)

Primary Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention to collect final data for the primary outcome measure. Whether the clinical study ended according to the protocol or was terminated does not affect this date. For clinical studies with more than one primary outcome measure with different completion dates, this term refers to the date on which data collection is completed for all the primary outcome measures. The "anticipated" primary completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the primary completion date for the study.
December 1, 2026

Study Completion (Estimated)

Study Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention/treatment to collect final data for the primary outcome measures, secondary outcome measures, and adverse events (that is, the last participant's last visit). The "anticipated" study completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the study completion date.
December 1, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

First Submitted

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submitted a study record to ClinicalTrials.gov. There is typically a delay of a few days between the first submitted date and the record's availability on ClinicalTrials.gov (the first posted date).
September 23, 2016

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submits a study record that is consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. The sponsor or investigator may need to revise and submit a study record one or more times before NLM's QC review criteria are met. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
November 10, 2016

First Posted (Estimated)

First Posted

The date on which the study record was first available on ClinicalTrials.gov after National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review has concluded. There is typically a delay of a few days between the date the study sponsor or investigator submitted the study record and the first posted date.
November 16, 2016

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

Last Update Posted

The most recent date on which changes to a study record were made available on ClinicalTrials.gov. There may be a delay between when the changes were submitted to ClinicalTrials.gov by the study's sponsor or investigator (the last update submitted date) and the last update posted date.
March 30, 2025

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator submitted changes to a study record that are consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
March 25, 2025

Last Verified

Last Verified

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator confirmed the information about a clinical study on ClinicalTrials.gov as accurate and current. If a study with a recruitment status of recruiting; not yet recruiting; or active, not recruiting has not been confirmed within the past 2 years, the study's recruitment status is shown as unknown.
April 1, 2019

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

Other Study ID Numbers

Identifiers or ID numbers other than the NCT number that are assigned to a clinical study by the study's sponsor, funders, or others. These numbers may include unique identifiers from other trial registries and National Institutes of Health grant numbers.
  • 14-8398-A

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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