Does the pattern of atrophy of the Corpus callosum differ between patients with frontotemporal dementia and patients with Alzheimer's disease?

The pattern of callosal atrophy might be useful for the differentiation between frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and Alzheimer's disease (AD) in advanced cases. However, it is unclear whether the pattern of callosal atrophy differs between patients with FTD and patients with AD in mild to moderate stages. Volumetric MR images were recorded from 48 probands (12 with FTD, 12 with late-onset AD, and 24 controls). All patients were in a mild or in a moderate stage. The corpus callosum was divided into five segments. A repeated-measures analysis of variance showed that there was no difference in the pattern of callosal atrophy between the groups. We provide evidence that patients with FTD and patients with late-onset AD do not differ in the pattern of callosal atrophy on condition that: (1) FTD patients and AD patients are in a mild to moderate stage and (2) FTD patients and AD patients differ in age.