• Marina Boccardi, Mikko P Laakso, Lorena Bresciani, Samantha Galluzzi, Cristina Geroldi, Alberto Beltramello, Hilkka Soininen, and Giovanni B Frisoni.
• Laboratory of Epidemiology and Neuroimaging, IRCCS San Giovanni di Dio, FBF, via Pilastroni 4, I-25125, Brescia, Italy.
• Neurobiol. Aging. 2003 Jan 1; 24 (1): 95-103.

ObjectiveTo compare patterns of brain atrophy in fronto-temporal dementia (FTD) and Alzheimer's disease (AD) since atrophy in individual areas may not be sufficiently specific as diagnostic marker.MethodsFrontal, temporal and hippocampal atrophy was measured from MRI of 10 FTD patients, 27 AD, and 27 controls. Corrected atrophy and asymmetry were computed (W-scores).ResultsFTD had mild atrophy in the hippocampus (average W-score=-1.3), severe in the frontal (W-score=-2.4) and very severe in the temporal lobes (W-score=-2.9). AD had moderate atrophy in the hippocampus and temporal lobes (W-score=-1.8 and -1.9, respectively), and very mild frontal atrophy (W-score=-0.9). Atrophy was more asymmetrical in FTD (left more atrophic) than in AD patients, particularly in the temporal lobes. A discriminant function including the asymmetry values of frontal and temporal regions could separate FTD from AD with 90% sensitivity and 93% specificity.ConclusionsFTD is characterized by a specific pattern of atrophy, more useful than atrophy of single regions in the differential diagnosis.

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