Chiara Cerami1, Alessandra Dodich2, Nicola Canessa2, Chiara Crespi2, Alessandra Marcone3, Francesca Cortese4, Gabriele Chierchia4, Elisa Scola5, Andrea Falini5, Stefano F Cappa6. 1. Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele, Milan, Italy; Department of Clinical Neurosciences, San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy; Division of Neuroscience, San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy. 2. Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele, Milan, Italy; Division of Neuroscience, San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy. 3. Department of Clinical Neurosciences, San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy. 4. Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele, Milan, Italy. 5. Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele, Milan, Italy; Neuroradiology-CERMAC, San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy. 6. Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele, Milan, Italy; Department of Clinical Neurosciences, San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy; Division of Neuroscience, San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy. Electronic address: cappa.stefano@hsr.it.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: Loss of empathy is a symptom of the behavioral variant of frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD), constituting a clue for early diagnosis. In this study, we directly compared two empathy components (intention attribution [IA] and emotion attribution [EA]), correlating them with possible specific patterns of gray-matter density reduction within the mentalizing network. METHODS: We evaluated IA and EA in 18 mild bvFTD patients compared with 36 healthy controls (HCs) using a single nonverbal test. A subgroup entered a voxel-based morphometry study. RESULTS: Compared with HC, bvFTD patients showed IA and EA impairments. EA performance correlated with gray-matter reduction in the right amygdala, left insula, and posterior-superior temporal sulcus extending into the temporoparietal junction. CONCLUSION: We proved an empathic impairment, with the ability to infer emotional states showing the most severe deficit. These results provide further evidence of selective disease-specific vulnerability of the limbic and frontoinsular network in bvFTD and highlight the usefulness of empathy assessment in early patients.
OBJECTIVE:Loss of empathy is a symptom of the behavioral variant of frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD), constituting a clue for early diagnosis. In this study, we directly compared two empathy components (intention attribution [IA] and emotion attribution [EA]), correlating them with possible specific patterns of gray-matter density reduction within the mentalizing network. METHODS: We evaluated IA and EA in 18 mild bvFTD patients compared with 36 healthy controls (HCs) using a single nonverbal test. A subgroup entered a voxel-based morphometry study. RESULTS: Compared with HC, bvFTD patients showed IA and EA impairments. EA performance correlated with gray-matter reduction in the right amygdala, left insula, and posterior-superior temporal sulcus extending into the temporoparietal junction. CONCLUSION: We proved an empathic impairment, with the ability to infer emotional states showing the most severe deficit. These results provide further evidence of selective disease-specific vulnerability of the limbic and frontoinsular network in bvFTD and highlight the usefulness of empathy assessment in early patients.
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Authors: Gianina Toller; Kamalini Ranasinghe; Yann Cobigo; Adam Staffaroni; Brian Appleby; Danielle Brushaber; Giovanni Coppola; Bradford Dickerson; Kimiko Domoto-Reilly; Julie Fields; Jamie Fong; Leah Forsberg; Nupur Ghoshal; Neill Graff-Radford; Murray Grossman; Hilary Heuer; Gink-Yuek Hsiung; Edward Huey; David Irwin; Kejal Kantarci; Daniel Kaufer; Diana Kerwin; David Knopman; John Kornak; Joel Kramer; Irene Litvan; Ian Mackenzie; Mario Mendez; Bruce Miller; Rosa Rademakers; Eliana Ramos; Katya Rascovsky; Erik Roberson; Jeremy Syrjanen; Carmela Tartaglia; Sandra Weintraub; Brad Boeve; Adam Boxer; Howard Rosen; Katherine Rankin Journal: Neurology Date: 2020-05-05 Impact factor: 9.910
Authors: Kamalini G Ranasinghe; Gianina Toller; Yann Cobigo; Kevin Chiang; Patrick Callahan; Caleb Eliazer; Joel H Kramer; Howard J Rosen; Bruce L Miller; Katherine P Rankin Journal: Alzheimers Dement (Amst) Date: 2021-07-12