REVIEWS  CLINICAL OUTCOMES OF AMYLOID IMAGIN IN CROSS SECTIONAL AND LONGITUDINAL STUDIES 

The Quarterly Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular imaging 2011 June;55(3):250-64

Copyright © 2011 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

FDG- and amyloid-PET in Alzheimer’s disease: is the whole greater than the sum of the parts?

Mosconi L., McHugh P. F. ✉

Department of Psychiatry New York University School of Medicine, New York NY, USA

The development of prevention therapies for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) would greatly benefit from biomarkers that are sensitive to subtle brain changes occurring prior to the onset of clinical symptoms, when the potential for preservation of function is at the greatest. In vivo brain imaging is a promising tool for the early detection of AD through visualization of abnormalities in brain structure, function and histopathology. Currently, positron emission tomography (PET) imaging with amyloid-beta (Aβ) tracers and 2-[18F]fluoro-2-Deoxy-D-glucose (FDG) is largely utilized in the diagnosis of AD. This paper reviews brain Aβ- and FDG-PET studies in AD patients as well as in non-demented individuals at risk for AD. We then discuss the potential of combining symptoms-sensitive FDG-PET measures with pathology-specific Aβ-PET to improve the early detection of AD.