Apathy
Updates to Case Attributes
Apathy is common, but an under-recognised, neuropsychiatric syndrome consisting of multiple components: reduced initiative, interest and emotional responsiveness1. Clinically, these symptoms overlap with melancholic depression, negative symptoms of schizophrenia, Parkinson's disease, akinetic disorders and catatonia2. The use of rating scales can be useful for determining the presence of apathy as it can be pronedis prone to misdiagnosis3. For example, in the demonstrated case, 'forgetfulness' is elaborated as reduced interest in sustaining a task (e.g. making a cup of tea), as oppose to an amnesia.
Functional and structural imaging of apathy frequently show abnormalities in the anterior cingulate area4,5. This area is conceived to be a fundamental component of reward-motivation behaviour. Other frontostriatal abnormalities commonly co-exist in apathy. Both anterior cingulate and frontostriatal abnormalities are demonstrated in this PET study, while his MRI brain is unremarkable (not included(MRI not demonstrated in here).
Apathy is a robust clinical correlate of various neurodegenerative disorders and poses a significant emotional burden on the caregiver. The sedentary nature of apathy may lead to self-neglect, malnutrition, venous thrombosis and pressure wound onin the patient. Furthermore, apathy can be a prodrome to neurodegenerative diseases such as behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia, corticobasal degeneration and Parkinson's-plus disorders. However, these features are not present in this case, and a sole diagnosis of apathy is made for his mild behavioural impairment.
-<p>Apathy is common, but an under-recognised, neuropsychiatric syndrome consisting of multiple components: reduced initiative, interest and emotional responsiveness<sup>1</sup>. Clinically, these symptoms overlap with melancholic depression, negative symptoms of schizophrenia, Parkinson's disease, akinetic disorders and catatonia<sup>2</sup>. The use of rating scales can be useful for determining the presence of apathy as it can be proned to misdiagnosis<sup>3</sup>. For example, in the demonstrated case, 'forgetfulness' is elaborated as reduced interest in sustaining a task (e.g. making a cup of tea), as oppose to an amnesia.</p><p>Functional and structural imaging of apathy frequently show abnormalities in the anterior cingulate area<sup>4,5</sup>. This area is conceived to be a fundamental component of reward-motivation behaviour. Other frontostriatal abnormalities commonly co-exist in apathy. Both anterior cingulate and frontostriatal abnormalities are demonstrated in this PET study, while his MRI brain is unremarkable (not included in here).</p><p>Apathy is a robust clinical correlate of various neurodegenerative disorders and poses a significant emotional burden on the caregiver. The sedentary nature of apathy may lead to self-neglect, malnutrition, venous thrombosis and pressure wound on the patient. Furthermore, apathy can be a prodrome to neurodegenerative diseases such as behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia, corticobasal degeneration and Parkinson's-plus disorders. However, these features are not present in this case. </p>- +<p>Apathy is common, but an under-recognised, neuropsychiatric syndrome consisting of multiple components: reduced initiative, interest and emotional responsiveness<sup>1</sup>. Clinically, these symptoms overlap with melancholic depression, negative symptoms of schizophrenia, Parkinson's disease, akinetic disorders and catatonia<sup>2</sup>. The use of rating scales can be useful for determining the presence of apathy as it is prone to misdiagnosis<sup>3</sup>. For example, in the demonstrated case, 'forgetfulness' is elaborated as reduced interest in sustaining a task (e.g. making a cup of tea), as oppose to an amnesia.</p><p>Functional and structural imaging of apathy frequently show abnormalities in the anterior cingulate area<sup>4,5</sup>. This area is conceived to be a fundamental component of reward-motivation behaviour. Other frontostriatal abnormalities commonly co-exist in apathy. Both anterior cingulate and frontostriatal abnormalities are demonstrated in this PET study, while his MRI brain is unremarkable (MRI not demonstrated in here).</p><p>Apathy is a robust clinical correlate of various neurodegenerative disorders and poses a significant emotional burden on the caregiver. The sedentary nature of apathy may lead to self-neglect, malnutrition, venous thrombosis and pressure wound in the patient. Furthermore, apathy can be a prodrome to neurodegenerative diseases such as behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia, corticobasal degeneration and Parkinson's-plus disorders. However, these features are not present in this case, and a sole diagnosis of apathy is made for his mild behavioural impairment.</p>