Functional connectivity changes in behavioral, semantic, and nonfluent variants of frontotemporal dementia

Abstract

Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) affects behavior, language, and personality. This study aims to explore functional connectivity changes in three FTD variants: behavioral (bvFTD), semantic (svPPA), and nonfluent variant (nfvPPA). Seventy-six patients diagnosed with FTD by international criteria and thirty-two controls were investigated. Functional connectivity from resting functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was estimated for the whole brain. Two types of analysis were done: network basic statistic and topological measures by graph theory. Several hubs in the limbic system and basal ganglia were compromised in the behavioral variant apart from frontal networks. Nonfluent variants showed a major disconnection with respect to the behavioral variant in operculum and parietal inferior. The global efficiency had lower coefficients in nonfluent variants than behavioral variants and controls. Our results support an extensive disconnection among frontal, limbic, basal ganglia, and parietal hubs.