Oculomotor function in frontotemporal lobar degeneration, related disorders and Alzheimer's disease.
Frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) often overlaps clinically with corticobasal syndrome (CBS) and progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), both of which have prominent eye movement abnormalities. To investigate the ability of oculomotor performance to differentiate between FTLD, Alzheimer's disease, CBS and PSP, saccades and smooth pursuit were measured in three FTLD subtypes, including 24 individuals with frontotemporal dementia (FTD), 19 with semantic dementia (SD) and six with progressive non-fluent aphasia (PA), as compared to 28 individuals with Alzheimer's disease, 15 with CBS, 10 with PSP and 27 control subjects. Different combinations of oculomotor abnormalities were identified in all clinical syndromes except for SD, which had oculomotor performance that was indistinguishable from age-matched controls. Only PSP patients displayed abnormalities in saccade velocity, whereas abnormalities in saccade gain were observed in PSP > CBS > Alzheimer's disease subjects. All patient groups except those with SD were impaired on the anti-saccade task, however only the FTLD subjects and not Alzheimer's disease, CBS or PSP groups, were able to spontaneously self-correct anti-saccade errors as well as controls. Receiver operating characteristic statistics demonstrated that oculomotor findings were superior to neuropsychological tests in differentiating PSP from other disorders, and comparable to neuropsychological tests in differentiating the other patient groups. These data suggest that oculomotor assessment may aid in the diagnosis of FTLD and related disorders.
Garbutt
Siobhan
S
Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94143-1207, USA.
Matlin
Alisa
A
Hellmuth
Joanna
J
Schenk
Ana K
AK
Johnson
Julene K
JK
Rosen
Howard
H
Dean
David
D
Kramer
Joel
J
Neuhaus
John
J
Miller
Bruce L
BL
Lisberger
Stephen G
SG
Boxer
Adam L
AL
D000368:Aged; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology / Q000523:psychology; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology; D003704:Dementia / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology / Q000523:psychology; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D053483:Eye Movement Measurements; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007806:Language Disorders / Q000209:etiology; D008297:Male; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000209:etiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D015835:Ocular Motility Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D011698:Pursuit, Smooth; D012438:Saccades; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted; D013494:Supranuclear Palsy, Progressive / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology / Q000523:psychology