Striatal Atrophy in the Behavioural Variant of Frontotemporal Dementia: Correlation with Diagnosis, Negative Symptoms and Disease Severity.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) is associated with changes in dorsal striatal parts of the basal ganglia (caudate nucleus and putamen), related to dysfunction in the cortico-striato-thalamic circuits which help mediate executive and motor functions. We aimed to determine whether the size and shape of striatal structures correlated with diagnosis of bvFTD, and measures of clinical severity, behaviour and cognition.

Materials and methods

Magnetic resonance imaging scans from 28 patients with bvFTD and 26 healthy controls were manually traced using image analysis software (ITK-SNAP). The resulting 3-D objects underwent volumetric analysis and shape analysis, through spherical harmonic description with point distribution models (SPHARM-PDM). Corr

SUBMITTER: Macfarlane MD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4468218 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature