Cerebral white matter degeneration in frontotemporal dementia detected by diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging.
OBJECTIVE
Brain tissue damage in frontotemporal dementia (FTD) has never been systematically studied using diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI). We studied FTD patients using DWI to determine whether microstructural changes in white matter can be detected in vivo.


METHODS
Thirteen FTD patients and 15 aged healthy subjects were studied. Mean diffusivity (MD) abnormalities in 28 white matter regions were visually evaluated. In addition, MD values in 10 white matter regions relative to that in the ipsilateral postcentral gyrus were measured. The results were compared between healthy subjects and FTD patients.


RESULTS
The visual rating resulted in a significant MD elevation in FTD patients in the bilateral high superior frontal gyri, right orbitofrontal gyrus, bilateral anterior temporal lobes, and left middle temporal lobe (P < .01, respectively). Relative MD comparison revealed a significant MD elevation in FTD patients in the bilateral high superior frontal gyri, bilateral orbitofrontal gyri, and bilateral anterior temporal lobes (P < .05 after Bonferroni correction, respectively).


CONCLUSIONS
Our results demonstrated white matter MD abnormalities in FTD patients. It was suggested that the observed white matter MD abnormalities are secondary to damage in the overlying cortex.
Yoshiura
Takashi
T
Department of Clinical Radiology, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka 812-8582, Japan. tyoshiura@syd.odn.ne.jp
Mihara
Futoshi
F
Koga
Hiroshi
H
Noguchi
Tomoyuki
T
Togao
Osamu
O
Ohyagi
Yasumasa
Y
Ogomori
Koji
K
Ichimiya
Atsushi
A
Kanba
Shigenobu
S
Honda
Hiroshi
H
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000473:pathology*; D003704:Dementia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology; D038524:Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015588:Observer Variation; D009778:Occipital Lobe / Q000473:pathology; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000473:pathology; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012107:Research Design; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000473:pathology