title: Subcortical and deep cortical atrophy in Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration.
abstract: Though neuroimaging, pathology and pathophysiology suggest a subcortical and deep cortical involvement in Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration (FTLD), no studies have comprehensively assessed the associated gray matter (GM) volume changes. We measured caudate, putamen, thalamus, and amygdala GM volume using probabilistic a-priori regions of interest (ROIs) in 53 early FTLD patients (38 behavioral variant FTD [bvFTD], 9 Semantic Dementia [SD], 6 Progressive Non-Fluent Aphasia [PNFA]), and 25 age-matched healthy controls (HC). ANOVA showed significant (P<0.001) main effect of diagnosis, and significant interactions for diagnosis and region, and diagnosis and hemisphere. Post-hoc comparisons with HC showed bilateral GM atrophy in the caudate, putamen and thalamus, in bvFTD; a left-confined GM reduction in the amygdala in SD; and bilateral GM atrophy in the caudate and thalamus, and left-sided GM reduction in the putamen and amygdala in PNFA. Correlation analyses suggested an association between GM volumes and language, psychomotor speed and behavioral disturbances. This study showed a widespread involvement of subcortical and deep cortical GM in early FTLD with patterns specific for clinical entity.
authors.affiliation: Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, Division of Neuroscience-IRCCS San Raffaele, National Institute of Neuroscience and IBFM-CNR, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Valentina
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Garibotto
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Borroni
authors.forename: Chiara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Agosti
authors.forename: Enrico
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Premi
authors.forename: Antonella
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Alberici
authors.forename: Simon B
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Eickhoff
authors.forename: Simona M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Brambati
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bellelli
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gasparotti
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Perani
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Padovani
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000679:Amygdala / Q000473:pathology; D001037:Aphasia / Q000473:pathology; D001284:Atrophy / Q000473:pathology; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D057174:Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011699:Putamen / Q000473:pathology