Microscopic fractional anisotropy MRI differences in genetic frontotemporal dementia
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INTRODUCTION
Microscopic fractional anisotropy (µFA), an emerging diffusion MRI metric, may be more sensitive than conventional metrics to gray matter microstructural changes in neurodegeneration. This pilot study compared µFA, mean diffusivity (MD), and volume between genetic frontotemporal dementia (FTD) variant carriers and non-carriers in the insula, frontal pole, and medial orbitofrontal cortex (mOFC).
METHODS
Carriers and familial non-carriers of FTD variants in C9orf72, GRN , or MAPT were scanned between October 2024-December 2025. Non-parametric aligned rank transform ANCOVAs were computed to analyze between-group differences in µFA, MD, and volume while controlling for age.
RESULTS
Carriers ( n =12) exhibited lower insula µFA than non-carriers ( n =8): F (1,19)=5.89, 95% CI [-10.7,-0.75], p =0.027, η 2 p =0.26. No group-differences were observed in other metrics, including MD and volume.
DISCUSSION
Reduced µFA in the insula, a region vulnerable to early atrophy in FTD, may be more sensitive to early microstructural changes in genetic FTD than traditional diffusivity measures.
