Adolfo Garcia, PhD, University of San Andrés, Buenos Aires, Argentina, discusses the use of linguistic deficits in the diagnosis of behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) in Latin America, where an increase in the prevalence of bvFTD and other dementias demands precise clinical phenotyping beyond typical symptoms. In addition to that, gold-standard diagnostic tools such as PET scans, genetic testing, or other biofluid approaches are either inaccessibly or prohibitively expensive in several regions of Latin America. While language assessment tools for bvFTD might be helpful to overcome some of those challenges, most countries in Latin America have failed to produce evidence regarding the linguistic profile of bvFTD cohorts. Prof. Garcia highlights key challenges specific to Latin America, including the variety of dialects spoken in that region. This interview was conducted during the virtual 2021 World Congress on Controversies in Neurology (CONy).
