Published in

Wiley, Alzheimer's & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer's Association, 4S_Part_21(7), 2011

DOI: 10.1016/j.jalz.2011.05.2062

Wiley, Alzheimer's & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer's Association, 4S_Part_1(7), 2011

DOI: 10.1016/j.jalz.2011.05.042

Oxford University Press (OUP), Cerebral Cortex, 12(22), p. 2705-2714

DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhr288

Links

Tools

Export citation

Search in Google Scholar

White Matter Damage in Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration Spectrum

This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

Full text: Download

Green circle
Preprint: archiving allowed
Orange circle
Postprint: archiving restricted
Red circle
Published version: archiving forbidden
Data provided by SHERPA/RoMEO

Abstract

White matter (WM) tract damage was assessed in patients with the behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) and the 3 primary progressive aphasia (PPA) variants and compared with the corresponding brain atrophy patterns. Thirteen bvFTD and 20 PPA patients were studied. Tract-based spatial statistics and voxel-based morphometry were used. Patients with bvFTD showed widespread diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging (DT MRI) abnormalities affecting most of the WM bilaterally. In PPA patients, WM damage was more focal and varied across the 3 syndromes: left frontotemporoparietal in nonfluent, left frontotemporal in semantic, and left frontoparietal in logopenic patients. In each syndrome, DT MRI changes extended beyond the topography of gray matter loss. Left uncinate damage was the best predictor of frontotemporal lobar degeneration diagnosis versus controls. DT MRI measures of the anterior corpus callosum and left superior longitudinal fasciculus differentiated bvFTD from nonfluent cases. The best predictors of semantic PPA compared with both bvFTD and nonfluent cases were diffusivity abnormalities of the left uncinate and inferior longitudinal fasciculus. This study provides insights into the similarities and differences of WM damage in bvFTD and PPA variants. DT MRI metrics hold promise to serve as early markers of WM integrity loss that only at a later stage may be detectable by volumetric measures.