Cortical Thickness in Frontotemporal Dementia, Mild Cognitive Impairment, and Alzheimer's Disease

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Hartikainen, Päivi^{a; b; *} | Räsänen, Janne^b | Julkunen, Valtteri^b | Niskanen, Eini^c | Hallikainen, Merja^b | Kivipelto, Miia^d | Vanninen, Ritva^e | Remes, Anne M.^f | Soininen, Hilkka^{a; b}

Affiliations: [a] Department of Neurology, Kuopio University Hospital, Kuopio, Finland | [b] Institute of Clinical Medicine, Neurology, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland | [c] Department of Applied Physics, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland | [d] Aging Research Center, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden | [e] Department of Radiology, Kuopio University Hospital, Kuopio, Finland | [f] Department of Clinical Medicine, Neurology, University of Oulu, and the Clinical Research Center, Oulu University Hospital, Oulu, Finland

Correspondence: [*] Correspondence to: Päivi Hartikainen, MD, PhD, Department of Neurology, B3253, Kuopio University Hospital, P.O. Box 1777, FI-70211, Kuopio, Finland. Tel.: +358 44 7113034; Fax: +358 17 3031; Email: paivi.hartikainen@kuh.fi.

Abstract: Cortical thickness analysis has been proposed as a potential diagnostic measure in memory disorders. In this retrospective study, we compared the cortical thickness values of 24 patients with frontotemporal dementia (FTD) to those of 25 healthy controls, 45 symptomatic subjects with stable mild cognitive impairment (S-MCI), 15 subjects with progressive mild cognitive impairment (P-MCI), and 36 patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). The patterns of regions of thinning in FTD when compared to controls and also S-MCI patients showed similar trends; thinning of the bilateral frontal poles and bilateral medial temporal lobe structures, especially the anterior part of the gingulum, the uncus, and parahippocampal gyri. Cortical thinning in FTD was also found on the boundary regions of parietal and occipital lobes. In the P-MCI group compared to FTD, the trend of thinning in small distinct areas of the parietal and occipital lobes was observed. The FTD and AD groups did not differ statistically, but we found trends toward thinning in FTD of the left cingulate gyrus, and the left occipitotemporal gyri, and in AD of the inferior parietal, occipitoparietal, and the pericalcarine regions, more in the right hemisphere. In FTD, increased slowness in the executive test (Trail-Making A) correlated with the thinner cortex, whereas the language tests showed the lower scores, the thinner cortex in the left hemisphere. Cortical thickness might be a tool for detecting subtle changes in brain atrophy in screening of dementia prior to the development of diffuse or lobar atrophies.

Keywords: Alzheimer's disease, cortical thickness analysis, frontotemporal dementia, magnetic resonance imaging, mild cognitive impairment

DOI: 10.3233/JAD-2012-112060

Journal: Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, vol. 30, no. 4, pp. 857-874, 2012