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Comparison of grey matter and metabolic reductions in frontotemporal dementia using FDG-PET and voxel-based morphometric MR studies

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European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this study was to investigate the regional differences between the morphologic and functional changes in the same patients with frontotemporal dementia (FTD) using statistical parametric mapping and voxel-based morphometry (VBM).

Methods

Thirteen FTD patients (mean age, 64.9 years old; mean MMSE score, 17.7), 20 sex-matched Alzheimer’s disease (AD) patients (mean age, 65.0 years old; mean MMSE score, 17.5), and 20 normal volunteers (mean age, 65.2 years old; mean MMSE score, 29.0) underwent both [18F]FDG positron emission tomography and three-dimensional spoiled gradient echo MRI. Statistical parametric mapping was used to conduct a VBM analysis of the morphologic data, which were compared voxel by voxel with the results of a similar analysis of glucose metabolic data.

Results

FTD patients showed decreased grey matter volume and decreased glucose metabolism in the frontal lobe and anterior temporal lobe. In addition, there was a clear asymmetry in grey matter volume in FTD patients by the VBM analysis while the glucose metabolic data showed little asymmetry. In AD patients, glucose metabolic reduction occurred in the bilateral posterior cingulate gyri and parietal lobules while grey matter density decreased the least in the same patients.

Conclusion

In FTD, metabolic and morphologic changes occur in the bilateral frontal lobe and temporal lobe with a limited asymmetry whereas there was considerable discordance in the AD group.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Hyogo Brain and Heart Center, 520 Saisho-Ko, Himeji, Hyogo, 670-0981, Japan

    Tomonori Kanda, Kazunari Ishii, Takafumi Uemura, Naokazu Miyamoto, Toshiki Yoshikawa & Atsushi K. Kono

  2. Division of Neuroimaging Research, Hyogo Institute for Aging Brain and Cognitive Disorders, Himeji, Hyogo, Japan

    Kazunari Ishii

  3. Division of Clinical Neurosciences, Hyogo Institute for Aging Brain and Cognitive Disorders, Himeji, Hyogo, Japan

    Etsuro Mori

  4. Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Behavioral Neurology and Cognitive Neuroscience, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan

    Etsuro Mori

Authors
  1. Tomonori Kanda
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  2. Kazunari Ishii
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  3. Takafumi Uemura
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  4. Naokazu Miyamoto
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  5. Toshiki Yoshikawa
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  6. Atsushi K. Kono
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  7. Etsuro Mori
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Correspondence to Kazunari Ishii.

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Kanda, T., Ishii, K., Uemura, T. et al. Comparison of grey matter and metabolic reductions in frontotemporal dementia using FDG-PET and voxel-based morphometric MR studies. Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging 35, 2227–2234 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00259-008-0871-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00259-008-0871-5

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