Latent atrophy factors related to phenotypical variants of posterior cortical atrophy

Neurology. 2020 Sep 22;95(12):e1672-e1685. doi: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000010362. Epub 2020 Jul 16.

Abstract

Objective: To determine whether atrophy relates to phenotypical variants of posterior cortical atrophy (PCA) recently proposed in clinical criteria (i.e., dorsal, ventral, dominant-parietal, and caudal) we assessed associations between latent atrophy factors and cognition.

Methods: We employed a data-driven Bayesian modeling framework based on latent Dirichlet allocation to identify latent atrophy factors in a multicenter cohort of 119 individuals with PCA (age 64 ± 7 years, 38% male, Mini-Mental State Examination 21 ± 5, 71% β-amyloid positive, 29% β-amyloid status unknown). The model uses standardized gray matter density images as input (adjusted for age, sex, intracranial volume, MRI scanner field strength, and whole-brain gray matter volume) and provides voxelwise probabilistic maps for a predetermined number of atrophy factors, allowing every individual to express each factor to a degree without a priori classification. Individual factor expressions were correlated to 4 PCA-specific cognitive domains (object perception, space perception, nonvisual/parietal functions, and primary visual processing) using general linear models.

Results: The model revealed 4 distinct yet partially overlapping atrophy factors: right-dorsal, right-ventral, left-ventral, and limbic. We found that object perception and primary visual processing were associated with atrophy that predominantly reflects the right-ventral factor. Furthermore, space perception was associated with atrophy that predominantly represents the right-dorsal and right-ventral factors. However, individual participant profiles revealed that the large majority expressed multiple atrophy factors and had mixed clinical profiles with impairments across multiple domains, rather than displaying a discrete clinical-radiologic phenotype.

Conclusion: Our results indicate that specific brain behavior networks are vulnerable in PCA, but most individuals display a constellation of affected brain regions and symptoms, indicating that classification into 4 mutually exclusive variants is unlikely to be clinically useful.

Publication types

  • Multicenter Study
  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Atrophy / classification
  • Atrophy / pathology*
  • Bayes Theorem
  • Cerebral Cortex / pathology*
  • Cohort Studies
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging / methods
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Neurodegenerative Diseases / classification*
  • Neurodegenerative Diseases / pathology*
  • Phenotype