Prominent loss of striatal dopamine transporter binding in frontotemporal lobar degeneration with the MAPT N279K mutation present as early as at prodromal stage without parkinsonism.

Our research found out, from 123 I-FP-CIT SPECT scans of three familial frontotemporal dementia (fFTD) individuals with MAPT N279K mutation and similar autopsy findings of frontotemporal degeneration with severe neuronal loss in the substantia nigra, that prominent decrease of dopamine transporter binding (z-score < -5.0) was present at prodromal fFTD without parkinsonism.