Federica Agosta1, Raffaella Migliaccio1,2,
Elisabetta Pagani1, Elisa Canu1, Stefania Sala1,
Francesca Caso3, Giuseppe Magnani3, Alessandra Marcone4,
Stefano Cappa4,5, Elisa Scola6, Andrea Falini6,
Giancarlo Comi3, Paolo Bartolomeo2, Massimo Filippi1
1Neuroimaging Research
Unit, Institute of Experimental Neurology, Division of Neuroscience,
Scientific Institute & University Hospital San Raffaele, Milan, Italy; 2U975
Centre de Recherche de l'Institut du Cerveau et de la Molle Epinire,
INSERM, Paris, France; 3Department of Neurology, Scientific
Institute & University Hospital San Raffaele, Milan, Italy; 4Department
of Clinical Neurosciences, San Raffaele Turro Hospital, Milan, Italy; 5Vita
Salute University , Milan, Italy; 6Department of Neuroradiology
& CERMAC, Scientific Institute & University Hospital San Raffaele,
Milan, Italy
In this study, diffusion tensor MRI tractography was used to explore the structural integrity of brain networks underlying the cognitive deficits in patients with posterior cortical atrophy (PCA). PCA patients showed damage to the ventral visual WM pathways of both hemispheres, with relative sparing of dorsal fronto-parietal connections. In agreement with these findings, the patients showed mainly deficits on recognizing faces and objects. These results may contribute to our understanding of the anatomical changes that occur in PCA and to explaining the variability of the phenotypical expressions of the disease.