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Differences in gray and white matter 18F-THK5351 uptake between behavioral-variant frontotemporal dementia and other dementias

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Abstract

Purpose

We investigated the regional distribution of 18F-THK5351 uptake in gray (GM) and white matter (WM) in patients with behavioral-variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) and compared it with that in patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) or semantic dementia (SD).

Methods

18F-THK-5351 positron emission tomography (PET), 18F-florbetaben PET, magnetic resonance imaging, and neuropsychological testing were performed in 103 subjects including 30, 24, 9, and 8 patients with mild cognitive impairment, AD, bvFTD, and SD, respectively, and 32 normal subjects. Standardized uptake value ratios (SUVRs) of 18F-THK-5351 PET images were measured from six GM and WM regions using cerebellar GM as reference. GM and WM SUVRs and WM/GM ratios, the relationship between GM SUVR and WM/GM ratio, and correlation between SUVR and cognitive function were compared.

Results

In AD, both parietal GM (p < 0.001) and WM (p < 0.001) SUVRs were higher than in bvFTD. In AD and SD, the WM/GM ratio decreased as the GM SUVR increased, regardless of lobar region. In AD, memory function correlated with parietal GM (ρ = −0.74, p < 0.001) and WM (ρ = −0.53, p < 0.001) SUVR. In SD, language function correlated with temporal GM SUVR (ρ = −0.69, p = 0.006). The frontal WM SUVR was higher in bvFTD than in AD (p = 0.003) or SD (p = 0.017). The frontal WM/GM ratio was higher in bvFTD than in AD (p < 0.001). In bvFTD, the WM/GM ratio increased more prominently than the GM SUVR only in the frontal lobe (R2 = 0.026). In bvFTD, executive function correlated with frontal WM SUVR (ρ = −0.64, p = 0.014).

Conclusions

Frontal WM 18F-THK5351 uptake was higher in bvFTD than in other dementias. The increase in frontal WM uptake was greater than the increase in GM uptake and correlated with executive function. This suggests that frontal lobe WM 18F-THK5351 uptake reflects neuropathological differences between bvFTD and other dementias.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by a grant from the Korea Health Technology R&D Project through the Korea Health Industry Development Institute, funded by the Ministry of Health & Welfare, Republic of Korea (HI14C2768).

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Author notes

  1. Hye Joo Son and Jungsu S. Oh contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Nuclear Medicine, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, 88 Olympic-ro 43-gil, Songpa-gu, Seoul, 05505, Republic of Korea

    Hye Joo Son, Jungsu S. Oh, Minyoung Oh, Sang Ju Lee, Seung Jun Oh & Jae Seung Kim

  2. Department of Neurology, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, 88 Olympic-ro 43-gil, Songpa-gu, Seoul, 05505, Republic of Korea

    Jee Hoon Roh

  3. Department of Neurology, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, 81 Irwon-Ro Gangnam-gu, Seoul, 06351, Republic of Korea

    Sang Won Seo

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Son, H.J., Oh, J.S., Roh, J.H. et al. Differences in gray and white matter 18F-THK5351 uptake between behavioral-variant frontotemporal dementia and other dementias. Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging 46, 357–366 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00259-018-4125-x

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