Longitudinal gray matter contraction in three variants of primary progressive aphasia: A tenser-based morphometry study

Neuroimage Clin. 2015 Jan 22:8:345-55. doi: 10.1016/j.nicl.2015.01.011. eCollection 2015.

Abstract

The present study investigated the pattern of longitudinal changes in cognition and anatomy in three variants of primary progressive aphasia (PPA). Eight patients with the non-fluent variant of PPA (nfvPPA), 13 patients with the semantic variant (svPPA), seven patients with the logopenic variant (lvPPA), and 29 age-matched, neurologically healthy controls were included in the study. All participants underwent longitudinal MRI, neuropsychological and language testing at baseline and at a 1-year follow-up. Tenser-based morphometry (TBM) was applied to T1-weighted MRI images in order to map the progression of gray and white matter atrophy over a 1-year period. Results showed that each patient group was characterized by a specific pattern of cognitive and anatomical changes. Specifically, nfvPPA patients showed gray matter atrophy progression in the left frontal and subcortical areas as well as a decline in motor speech and executive functions; svPPA patients presented atrophy progression in the medial and lateral temporal lobe and decline in semantic memory abilities; and lvPPA patients showed atrophy progression in lateral/posterior temporal and medial parietal regions with a decline in memory, sentence repetition and calculations. In addition, in all three variants, the white matter fibers underlying the abovementioned cortical areas underwent significant volume contraction over a 1-year period. Overall, these results indicate that the three PPA variants present distinct patterns of neuroanatomical contraction, which reflect their clinical and cognitive progression.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Aphasia, Primary Progressive / pathology*
  • Aphasia, Primary Progressive / physiopathology
  • Atrophy / pathology
  • Disease Progression*
  • Executive Function / physiology*
  • Female
  • Follow-Up Studies
  • Gray Matter / pathology*
  • Humans
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging / methods*
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Primary Progressive Nonfluent Aphasia / pathology
  • Primary Progressive Nonfluent Aphasia / physiopathology