Functional imaging studies suggest that brain reserve allows patients with Alzheimer's disease with more years of schooling to cope better with brain damage. No studies exist on patients with non-fluent progressive aphasia (NFPA). We aimed to explore metabolic patterns of patients with NFPA and to provide evidence for brain reserve in NFPA. 11 right-handed patients with NFPA and 16 age-matched controls underwent (18)F-FDG PET imaging. Scans of patients and controls were compared in SPM2. A linear regression analysis with glucose metabolism as dependent variable and years of schooling as the independent variable, adjusted for age, gender, and a total score of the CERAD neuropsychological battery was conducted. The NFPA group showed a hypometabolism of the left hemisphere including the middle frontal, and inferior temporal and angular gyri, and the bilateral caudate nuclei and thalami (p(corr)<0.05). The regression analysis revealed a significant inverse association between education and glucose metabolism in the left inferior temporal, parahippocampal, and supramarginal gyri (p(corr)<0.05). We conclude that brain reserve is also present in NFPA.