P1‐104: Differential patterns of atrophy in behavioral versus language subtypes of frontotemporal lobar degeneration: A tensor‐based morphometry study
Year: 2009
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: The clinical syndromes of frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) include a personality and behavioral syndrome (behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia or bvFTD) and language-predominant disorders (langFTD: primary progressive aphasia or PPA and semantic dementia or SD). Tensor-based morphometry (TBM), a novel computational approach for visualizing longitudinal progression of brain atrophy, was used to determine whether the pattern of atrophy differed between bvFTD and langFTD. Seven patients diagnosed with bvFTD and 6 subjects diagnosed with langFTD (4 with SD and 2 with PPA) were recruited from the Focal-Type Dementia Clinic at UCLA. The subjects, ranging in age from 46 to 72 (mean age=58.5 years, sd=8.6) were evaluated with a baseline and follow-up MRI scan approximately one year apart. The two groups did not differ significantly on any demographic characteristics. TBM was used to create 3D maps of local brain tissue atrophy rates for individual participants by globally aligning and non-linearly deforming all images to a common brain template. Each scan pair was then deformed to each other using non-linear elastic intensity-based image registration. These spatially detailed 3D maps were compared between the two groups. Regional analyses were performed and the average Jacobian maps revealed significant atrophy in the bilateral frontal lobes and anterior temporal lobes of the bvFTD group with relative sparing of the posterior regions. In the langFTD group, the atrophy was confined to the temporal regions, bilaterally. Using permutation tests, the bvFTD group demonstrated significantly greater frontal white matter atrophy (p=.011, corrected for multiple comparisons) over one year than the langFTD group. The bvFTD and langFTD groups displayed different patterns of atrophy. Significantly greater frontal white matter loss was detected in bvFTD compared to langFTD, confirming the association between frontal lobes and the behavioral disturbances of bvFTD. TBM appears to be useful in tracking longitudinal progression of regional brain atrophy in these patients and may aid in differentiating between the clinical syndromes of FTLD.
Source: Alzheimer s & Dementia
Language: English
Subfield: Psychiatry and Mental health
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2017007358