BACKGROUND: Little research to date has investigated neural correlates of functional disability in frontotemporal dementia (FTD). METHODS: Activities of daily living (ADL) were covaried against gray matter atrophy regions via Voxel-based morphometry in FTD (n = 52) and contrasted against a dementia control Alzheimer disease (AD) group (n = 20) and healthy age-matched controls (n = 18). RESULTS: Both patient groups had similar ADL scores. However, FTD and AD differed on the gray matter atrophy areas associated with ADL scores. The FTD showed involvement of prefrontal and thalamus regions while AD showed widespread temporal, parietal, frontal, and caudate atrophy correlating with ADL dysfunction. Importantly, only the left superior frontal gyrus was implicated in ADL dysfunction for both FTD and AD. CONCLUSIONS: Differences in underlying neural correlates of ADL impairment have important clinical implications as these differences should be taken into account when interventions are planned. Dementia subtypes might require specifically tailored interventions for functional disability.
BACKGROUND: Little research to date has investigated neural correlates of functional disability in frontotemporal dementia (FTD). METHODS: Activities of daily living (ADL) were covaried against gray matter atrophy regions via Voxel-based morphometry in FTD (n = 52) and contrasted against a dementia control Alzheimer disease (AD) group (n = 20) and healthy age-matched controls (n = 18). RESULTS: Both patient groups had similar ADL scores. However, FTD and AD differed on the gray matter atrophy areas associated with ADL scores. The FTD showed involvement of prefrontal and thalamus regions while AD showed widespread temporal, parietal, frontal, and caudate atrophy correlating with ADL dysfunction. Importantly, only the left superior frontal gyrus was implicated in ADL dysfunction for both FTD and AD. CONCLUSIONS: Differences in underlying neural correlates of ADL impairment have important clinical implications as these differences should be taken into account when interventions are planned. Dementia subtypes might require specifically tailored interventions for functional disability.
Authors: Vesna Vuksanović; Roger T Staff; Suzannah Morson; Trevor Ahearn; Luc Bracoud; Alison D Murray; Peter Bentham; Christopher M Kipps; Charles R Harrington; Claude M Wischik Journal: Brain Commun Date: 2021-10-21
Authors: Fernando Henríquez; Victoria Cabello; Sandra Baez; Leonardo Cruz de Souza; Patricia Lillo; David Martínez-Pernía; Loreto Olavarría; Teresa Torralva; Andrea Slachevsky Journal: Front Neurol Date: 2022-02-16 Impact factor: 4.003