Abstract
Objective: To assess quantitative electroencephalography (EEG) as a potential disease biomarker for frontotemporal dementia (FTD) drug development.
Background: Recent EEG analysis advances allow non-invasive quantitative evaluation of cortical activity that may detect neurodegeneration. FTD is a neurodegenerative disorder with selective vulnerability of fronto-temporal regions and which lacks established disease progression biomarkers. Previous use of quantitative EEG in FTD has been limited and challenging.
Design/Methods: Resting EEG was acquired at home from two main FTD syndromes (7 behavioral variant FTD (bvFTD), 4 non-fluent variant primary progressive aphasia (nfvPPA)), and compared to 8 normal controls.
Decontaminated EEG data was converted from time to frequency domain using Fast Fourier Transform (FFT). Absolute power spectral densities (PSDs) were calculated for 1 second epochs (1–40Hz bins and standard bandwidths). Neuroguide software was used to compare group PSDs and perform LORETA analyses.
Results: EEG acquisition was feasible for assessing FTD, home assessments facilitated patients’ participation and retention.
Compared to controls, in bvFTD eyes-closed (EC) PSDs showed broadly decrease in alpha and beta activity. Decreases were observed in beta band primarily in frontal and left temporal regions. EC LORETA showed decreased alpha and beta in bilateral temporal and cingulate regions, respectively, and decreased delta in frontal and anterior cingulate areas.
Compared to controls, in nfvPPA EC PSDs showed overall decreased activity, particularly in delta band within central and right temporal regions. EC LORETA showed decreased alpha and beta1 in temporal region and decreased beta2 in temporal and anterior cingulate areas.
Conclusions: Distinctive EEG patterns observed in brain regions typically affected by FTD support the potential of quantitative EEG as a FTD disease biomarker. Differences in EEG patterns between subtypes and other dementias are highlighted. Larger longitudinal and multimodal studies can further evaluate quantitative EEG utility as a disease progression biomarker for application in FTD drug development.
Study Supported by: Biogen
Disclosure: Dr. Ratti has received personal compensation for activities with Biogen as an employee. Dr. Von Rosenstiel has received personal compensation for activities with Biogen as an employee. Dr. Waninger has received personal compensation for activities with Advanced Brain Monitoring. Dr. Wang has received research support from Biogen. Dr. Berka has received personal compensation for activities with Advanced Brain Monitoring (ABM) as an employee. Dr. Berka holds stock in Advanced Brain Monitoring (ABM), which sponsored research in which Dr. Berka was involved as an investigator. Dr. Berka has received research support from Biogen. Dr. Mendez has received personal compensation in an editorial capacity for UpToDate. Dr. Verma has received personal compensation for activities with Biogen as an employee. Dr. Verma has stock and/or stock options in Biogen.
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