title: Longitudinal gray matter contraction in three variants of primary progressive aphasia: A tenser-based morphometry study.
abstract: The present study investigated the pattern of longitudinal changes in cognition and anatomy in three variants of primary progressive aphasia (PPA). Eight patients with the non-fluent variant of PPA (nfvPPA), 13 patients with the semantic variant (svPPA), seven patients with the logopenic variant (lvPPA), and 29 age-matched, neurologically healthy controls were included in the study. All participants underwent longitudinal MRI, neuropsychological and language testing at baseline and at a 1-year follow-up. Tenser-based morphometry (TBM) was applied to T1-weighted MRI images in order to map the progression of gray and white matter atrophy over a 1-year period. Results showed that each patient group was characterized by a specific pattern of cognitive and anatomical changes. Specifically, nfvPPA patients showed gray matter atrophy progression in the left frontal and subcortical areas as well as a decline in motor speech and executive functions; svPPA patients presented atrophy progression in the medial and lateral temporal lobe and decline in semantic memory abilities; and lvPPA patients showed atrophy progression in lateral/posterior temporal and medial parietal regions with a decline in memory, sentence repetition and calculations. In addition, in all three variants, the white matter fibers underlying the abovementioned cortical areas underwent significant volume contraction over a 1-year period. Overall, these results indicate that the three PPA variants present distinct patterns of neuroanatomical contraction, which reflect their clinical and cognitive progression.
authors.affiliation: Centre de Recherche de l'Institut Universitaire de Gériatrie de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada.
authors.forename: Simona Maria
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Brambati
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Memory and Aging Center, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Serena
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Amici
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurological Surgery, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Caroline A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Racine
authors.affiliation: Department of Biostatistics, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Neuhaus
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Memory and Aging Center, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Zachary
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Memory and Aging Center, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA ; Department of Veteran's Affairs, Martinez, CA, USA ; University of California, Davis, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Jenny
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ogar
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Memory and Aging Center, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA ; Department of Veteran's Affairs, Martinez, CA, USA ; University of California, Davis, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Nina
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Dronkers
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Memory and Aging Center, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Bruce L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Memory and Aging Center, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Howard
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Rosen
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Memory and Aging Center, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Maria Luisa
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Gorno-Tempini
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D018888:Aphasia, Primary Progressive / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D001284:Atrophy / Q000473:pathology; D018450:Disease Progression; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D066128:Gray Matter / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D057178:Primary Progressive Nonfluent Aphasia / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology