title: Frontal Assessment Battery and brain perfusion images in amnestic mild cognitive impairment.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Some patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) may have impaired frontal lobe function. To assess the frontal lobe functions of subjects with MCI using the Frontal Assessment Battery (FAB) and to identify the brain regions responsible for FAB performance.
  
  
  METHODS
  Based on the FAB score cut-off of 12/13, 38 MCI subjects were divided into a high FAB group (n=20) and a low FAB group (n=18). They underwent single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and we analyzed the data by the 3-D stereotactic surface projection method.
  
  
  RESULTS
  No significant differences in neuropsychological tests including memory, language and praxis, and depression scores were found between high and low FAB groups. Although both groups showed decreases in the regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) of the parietotemporal and frontal regions, the low FAB group demonstrated significant decreases in the rCBF of the left lateral frontal and right medial frontal regions compared with the high FAB group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results indicate that some patients with amnestic MCI have frontal lobe dysfunction, assessed by the FAB. SPECT study suggests that the FAB mainly reflects the function of some regions of the left lateral frontal and right medial frontal areas.
authors.affiliation: Department of Geriatric Medicine, Tokyo Medical University, Tokyo, Japan. peacepiece@nifty.com
authors.forename: Kazumasa
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kume
authors.forename: Haruo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hanyu
authors.forename: Mikako
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Murakami
authors.forename: Tomohiko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sato
authors.forename: Kentaro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hirao
authors.forename: Hidekazu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kanetaka
authors.forename: Hirofumi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sakurai
authors.forename: Toshihiko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Iwamoto
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000647:Amnesia / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D002560:Cerebrovascular Circulation / Q000502:physiology*; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon / Q000379:methods*