Does the Measurement Differ for Patients with Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration and Alzheimer Disease and for Healthy Subjects?
GROUND AND PURPOSE: The anterior commissure (AC) and substantia innominata (SI) can be clearly demonstrated at 3T high-resolution MR imaging. Our aim was to investigate if atrophy of the AC and SI on 3T MR imaging differs among patients with frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) and Alzheimer dementia (AD) and healthy subjects. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Seven consecutive patients with FTLD, 20 patients with AD, and 16 age-matched control subjects were enrolled. MR imaging was performed at 3T. The AC thickness as well as the SI thickness was measured on a thin-section coronal T2-weighted image, and the AC area was measured on a sagittal T1-weighted image. The measurement differences among the participants were analyzed with the Kruskal-Wallis test. A correlation of the measurement with the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score was obtained with the Spearman rank correlation test. RESULTS: Thinning of the AC was significantly more prominent in FTLD than in AD (P < .001). Although th