Structural brain alterations in patients with criminal behavior in frontotemporal dementia
Poster No:
180
Submission Type:
Abstract Submission
Authors:
Karsten Mueller1,2, Timo Grimmer3, Lina Riedel3, Janine Diehl-Schmid3, Adrian Danek4, Johannes Levin4, Jens Wiltfang5, Sarah Anderl-Straub6, Markus Otto7, Matthias Schroeter1,8
Institutions:
1Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany, 2Department of Neurology, Charles University, First Faculty of Medicine and General University Hospital in Prague, Prague, Czech Republic, 3Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany, 4Department of Neurology, LMU University Hospital, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany, 5Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical University Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany, 6Department of Neurology, University of Ulm, Ulm, Germany, 7University Hospital Halle/Saale, Halle/Saale, Germany, 8Clinic for Cognitive Neurology, University Hospital Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
First Author:
Karsten Mueller
Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences|Department of Neurology, Charles University, First Faculty of Medicine and General University Hospital in Prague
Leipzig, Germany|Prague, Czech Republic
Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences|Department of Neurology, Charles University, First Faculty of Medicine and General University Hospital in Prague
Leipzig, Germany|Prague, Czech Republic
Co-Author(s):
Timo Grimmer
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Technical University of Munich
Munich, Germany
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Technical University of Munich
Munich, Germany
Lina Riedel
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Technical University of Munich
Munich, Germany
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Technical University of Munich
Munich, Germany
Janine Diehl-Schmid
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Technical University of Munich
Munich, Germany
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Technical University of Munich
Munich, Germany
Jens Wiltfang
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical University Göttingen
Göttingen, Germany
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical University Göttingen
Göttingen, Germany
Matthias Schroeter, MD, PhD
Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences|Clinic for Cognitive Neurology, University Hospital Leipzig
Leipzig, Germany|Leipzig, Germany
Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences|Clinic for Cognitive Neurology, University Hospital Leipzig
Leipzig, Germany|Leipzig, Germany
Introduction:
The behavioral variant of the frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) is related to a variety of social misbehavior including criminal behavior (CB), aggression, loss of job, alienation from family/friends, financial recklessness, sexually deviant behavior, and abnormal response to spousal crisis (Mychack 2001). Recent work suggests that impairment in emotional processing of others, along with disinhibition, constitute the necessary elements for CB in bvFTD (Mendez 2022), however, the underlying neurobiological mechanisms are still unclear. Therefore, we aim at investigating structural brain changes related to CB in bvFTD using magnetic resonance (MR) imaging data of the German Consortium for Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration (FTLD).
Methods:
The study comprised 87 bvFTD patients (39 fem, age 62.9±9.8 y) and 26 healthy controls (HC, 13 fem, age 64.5±11.8 y) recruited within different locations (Göttingen, Leipzig, Munich, Ulm) of the FTLD Consortium. For each centre, clinical evaluation and neuropsychological assessments were performed according to standard operating procedures. A subset of 21 bvFTD patients (7 fem, age 64.2±11.2 y) showed CB including theft, physical violence, sexual assault, drug abuse, and violations against traffic law. High-resolution T1-weighted images were obtained using 3T Siemens MR scanners (Siemens Healthineers, Erlangen, Germany) with an MP-RAGE sequence.
Data analysis was performed using SPM12 rev7771 with the CAT toolbox 12.8.2 rev2170 (Gaser 2022). For all participants, voxel-based morphometry was performed generating gray matter density (GMD) images using image segmentation and modulation by scaling with the amount of volume changes due to spatial registration (Ashburner 2005). Finally, GMD images were smoothed using a spatial Gaussian filter of 8 mm FWHM. In addition, surface-based morphometry was performed by reconstruction of cortical thickness using a projection-based thickness approach (Dahnke 2012).
Both GMD and cortical thickness were further analyzed in order to detect group differences between bvFTD patients with and without CB, and between bvFTD patients with CB and HC. Group comparison was performed using a general linear model (GLM) with a full-factorial design using the factors 'group' (CB vs no-CB) and 'subgroup of bvFTD' (possible vs probable/definite). Analyses also included age and sex as nuisance covariates. Further, GMD analyses included the total intracranial volume as an additional regressor. Group differences were computed using an initial voxel/vertex-threshold of P<0.001, and significant clusters were obtained using family-wise error (FWE) correction at cluster- and peak-level with P<0.01 (Flandin 2019, Friston 1994).
Data analysis was performed using SPM12 rev7771 with the CAT toolbox 12.8.2 rev2170 (Gaser 2022). For all participants, voxel-based morphometry was performed generating gray matter density (GMD) images using image segmentation and modulation by scaling with the amount of volume changes due to spatial registration (Ashburner 2005). Finally, GMD images were smoothed using a spatial Gaussian filter of 8 mm FWHM. In addition, surface-based morphometry was performed by reconstruction of cortical thickness using a projection-based thickness approach (Dahnke 2012).
Both GMD and cortical thickness were further analyzed in order to detect group differences between bvFTD patients with and without CB, and between bvFTD patients with CB and HC. Group comparison was performed using a general linear model (GLM) with a full-factorial design using the factors 'group' (CB vs no-CB) and 'subgroup of bvFTD' (possible vs probable/definite). Analyses also included age and sex as nuisance covariates. Further, GMD analyses included the total intracranial volume as an additional regressor. Group differences were computed using an initial voxel/vertex-threshold of P<0.001, and significant clusters were obtained using family-wise error (FWE) correction at cluster- and peak-level with P<0.01 (Flandin 2019, Friston 1994).
Results:
Comparing bvFTD patients with and without CB, we obtained reduced GMD with CB in the left temporal lobe including the left amygdala (Fig 1A) and reduced cortical thickness in the left temporal lobe (Fig 2A). Comparing patients with CB in bvFTD with HC, we obtained a much larger pattern of CB-related reduced GMD and cortical thickness in larger regions of the left and right temporal lobe and also regions of the frontal lobe (Fig 1B and 2B, respectively).
Conclusions:
Our study revealed structural brain differences between bvFTD patients with and without CB showing CB-related reduced GMD and cortical thickness in the left amygdala and the left temporal lobe. Interestingly, the same regions are discussed with CB in bvFTD in the current literature, however, dominantly affected in the right hemisphere (Mendez 2022). The involvement of the temporal lobe was also reported in criminal psychopaths (Müller 2008) in both left and right temporal lobe, but with higher sensitivity in the right hemisphere. In contrast, a recent study with homicide offenders showed the most prominent structural finding in the left temporal lobe (Sajous-Turner 2020) which is in line with our work. Further work is necessary to shed more light onto the role of the left and the right temporal lobe in bvFTD patients with CB.
Disorders of the Nervous System:
Neurodegenerative/ Late Life (eg. Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s) 1
Higher Cognitive Functions:
Executive Function, Cognitive Control and Decision Making 2
Keywords:
Degenerative Disease
DISORDERS
MRI
STRUCTURAL MRI
Other - frontotemporal lobar degeneration; frontotemporal dementia; criminal behavior
1|2Indicates the priority used for review
·Figure 1. Reduced gray matter density in bvFTD patients with criminal behavior (CB) when comparing (A) bvFTD patients with and without CB, and (B) CB-bvFTD patients with healthy controls (HC).
·Figure 2. Reduced cortical thickness in bvFTD patients with criminal behavior (CB) when comparing (A) bvFTD patients with and without CB, and (B) CB-bvFTD patients with healthy controls (HC).
Provide references using author date format
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