Title | Characterizing White Matter Tract Degeneration in Syndromic Variants of Alzheimer's Disease: A Diffusion Tensor Imaging Study. |
Publication Type | Journal Article |
Year of Publication | 2016 |
Authors | Madhavan, A, Schwarz, CG, Duffy, JR, Strand, EA, Machulda, MM, Drubach, DA, Kantarci, K, Przybelski, SA, Reid, RI, Senjem, ML, Gunter, JL, Apostolova, LG, Lowe, VJ, Petersen, RC, Jack, CR, Josephs, KA, Whitwell, JL |
Journal | J Alzheimers Dis |
Volume | 49 |
Issue | 3 |
Pagination | 633-43 |
Date Published | 2016 |
ISSN | 1875-8908 |
Keywords | Aged, Alzheimer Disease, Aniline Compounds, Anisotropy, Aphasia, Primary Progressive, Case-Control Studies, Diffusion Tensor Imaging, Female, Humans, Image Processing, Computer-Assisted, Male, Middle Aged, Nerve Fibers, Myelinated, Neurodegenerative Diseases, Neuropsychological Tests, Positron-Emission Tomography, Psychiatric Status Rating Scales, Retrospective Studies, Thiazoles, White Matter |
Abstract | BACKGROUND: Different clinical syndromes can arise from Alzheimer's disease (AD) neuropathology, including dementia of the Alzheimer's type (DAT), logopenic primary progressive aphasia (lvPPA), and posterior cortical atrophy (PCA). OBJECTIVE: To assess similarities and differences in patterns of white matter tract degeneration across these syndromic variants of AD. METHODS: Sixty-four subjects (22 DAT, 24 lvPPA, and 18 PCA) that had diffusion tensor imaging and showed amyloid-β deposition on PET were assessed in this case-control study. A whole-brain voxel-based analysis was performed to assess differences in fractional anisotropy, mean diffusivity, axial diffusivity, and radial diffusivity across groups. RESULTS: All three groups showed overlapping diffusion abnormalities in a network of tracts, including fornix, corpus callosum, posterior thalamic radiations, superior longitudinal fasciculus, inferior longitudinal fasciculus, inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus, and uncinate fasciculus. Subtle regional differences were also observed across groups, with DAT particularly associated with degeneration of fornix and cingulum, lvPPA with left inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus and uncinate fasciculus, and PCA with posterior thalamic radiations, superior longitudinal fasciculus, posterior cingulate, and splenium of the corpus callosum. CONCLUSION: These findings show that while each AD phenotype is associated with degeneration of a specific structural network of white matter tracts, striking spatial overlap exists among the three network patterns that may be related to AD pathology. |
DOI | 10.3233/JAD-150502 |
Alternate Journal | J. Alzheimers Dis. |
PubMed ID | 26484918 |
Grant List | P50-AG016574 / AG / NIA NIH HHS / United States R01 DC010367 / DC / NIDCD NIH HHS / United States R01-AG040042 / AG / NIA NIH HHS / United States R01-AG041851 / AG / NIA NIH HHS / United States R01-AG11378 / AG / NIA NIH HHS / United States |