The identification of a neurodegenerative disorder’s distributed pattern of atrophy—or atrophy “signature”— can lend insights into the cortical networks that degenerate in individuals with specific constellations of symptoms. In addition, this signature can be used as a biomarker to support early diagnoses and to potentially reveal pathological changes associated with said disorder. Here, we characterized the cortical atrophy signature of Behavioral Variant Frontotemporal Dementia (bvFTD). We used a data-driven approach to estimate cortical thickness using surface-based analyses in two independent, sporadic bvFTD samples (n=30 and n=71, total n=101), using age- and gender-matched cognitively and behaviorally normal individuals. We found highly similar patterns of cortical atrophy across the two independent samples, supporting the reliability of our bvFTD signature. Next, we investigated whether our bvFTD signature targets specific large-scale cortical networks, as is the case for other neurodegenerative disorders. We specifically asked whether the bvFTD signature topographically overlaps with the salience network, as previous reports have suggested.
