DTI Reveals Abnormal White Matter Pathways to Classic Language Areas in Semantic Dementia

Julio Acosta-Cabronero¹, Karalyn Patterson¹, Tim D. Fryer¹, John R. Hodges², George Pengas¹, Guy B. Williams¹, Peter J. Nestor¹

Using tract-based spatial statistics, we compared diffusion tensor data from 10 semantic dementia (SD) patients and 21 controls. Abnormalities in all metrics were highly statistically significant in ventro-rostral temporal white matter, more extreme on the left side. To examine more remote changes, we performed an average-control tractographythree major neural pathways were found to emanate from the lesion: uncinate (UF), arcuate (AF) and inferior longitudinal fasciculi (ILF). At a less conservative threshold, tensor abnormalities in the SD group mapped onto the tractography for the UF and AF well beyond the rostral temporal lobe; but not further caudally along the ILF.