Multimodal imaging evidence of pathology-mediated disease distribution in corticobasal syndrome

Objective: To use multimodal neuroimaging to evaluate the influence of heterogeneous underlying pathology in corticobasal syndrome (CBS) on the neuroanatomical distribution of disease.

Methods: We performed a retrospective evaluation of 35 patients with CBS with T1-weighted MRI, diffusion tensor imaging, and neuropathologic, genetic, or CSF evidence of underlying pathology. Patients were assigned to 2 groups: those with evidence of Alzheimer pathology (CBS-AD) and those without Alzheimer pathology (CBS–non-AD). Group comparisons of CBS-AD and CBS–non-AD assessed clinical features, gray matter (GM) cortical thickness, and white matter (WM) fractional anisotropy.

Results: CBS-AD was found in 34% (n = 12) and CBS–non-AD in 66% (n = 23) of CBS patients. Clinical evaluations revealed that CBS–non-AD had a higher frequency of asymmetric rigidity compared to CBS-AD, but groups otherwise did not differ in dementia severity, impairments in cognition, or rates of extrapyramidal symptoms. We found frontoparietal GM and WM disease in each group compared to healthy, demographically comparable controls, as well as multimodal neuroimaging evidence of a double dissociation: CBS–non-AD had WM disease in the corpus callosum, corticospinal tract, and superior longitudinal fasciculus relative to CBS-AD, and CBS-AD had reduced temporoparietal GM relative to CBS–non-AD, including the precuneus and posterior cingulate.

Conclusions: Patients with CBS have a pathology-mediated dissociation of GM and WM disease. Multimodality neuroimaging may be useful for improving in vivo pathologic diagnosis of CBS.