Re-evaluation of clinical dementia diagnoses with PET-PIB

• Objectives: There is an overlap regarding Pittsburgh Compound-B (PIB) retention in patients clinically diagnosed as Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and non-AD dementia.  The aim of the present study was to investigate whether there are any differences between PIB+ and PIB PIB- patients in a mixed cohort of patients with neurodegenerative dementia of mild severity regarding neuropsychological test performance and regional cerebral glucose metabolism measured with 18 Fluoro-2-deoxy-d-glucose (FDG) PET.Methods: Eighteen patients clinically diagnosed as probable AD or frontotemporal dementia were examined with  PIB PET, FDG PET and neuropsychological tests and followed for 5-9 years in a clinical setting.Results:  The PIB+ patients (7/18) had slower psychomotor speed and more impaired visual episodic memory than the PIB- patients, otherwise performance did not differ between groups. The initial clinical diagnoses were changed in one third of the patients (6/18) during follow-up.  Conclusions: The subtle differences in neuropsychological performance, the overlap of hypometabolic patterns and clinical features between AD and non-AD dementia highlight the need of amyloid biomarkers and readiness to re-evaluate the initial diagnosis.

Nyckelord

Alzheimer’s disease

PIB PET

Dementia with Lewy Bodies

Frontotemporal dementia

ß-amyloid

amyloid biomarker

FDG PET

neuropsychological tests

TMT A

episodic memory

Medicinsk vetenskap

Medical Science

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vet (ämneskategori)

ovr (ämneskategori)