Alzheimer's Disease Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Alzheimer's Disease, including details on diagnosis, memory loss, heredity, treatment, medication.

Positron emission tomography facilitates diagnosis of early-onset Alzheimer's disease.

McMurtray AM, Licht E, Yeo T, Krisztal E, Saul RE, Mendez MF

Department of Neurology, University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), Calif., USA.

BACKGROUND: Clinical positron emission tomography (PET) may help in the evaluation of presenile patients with memory complaints for the presence of Alzheimer's disease (AD). METHODS: Clinical PET scans from 27 patients with clinically probable AD and early ages of onset (<65 years) were compared to PET scans from 27 age-matched controls presenting with memory complaints, but without dementia or mild cognitive impairment. RESULTS: Compared to controls, the AD patients had significant frontal, temporal and parietal hypometabolism bilaterally, and AD diagnosis correlated with left temporal and right temporoparietal hypometabolism. The sensitivity of temporoparietal hypometabolism for AD was 92.6%, the specificity 85.2%. CONCLUSION: Clinical PET imaging helps distinguish early-onset AD from patients with memory complaints not meeting criteria for dementia or mild cognitive impairment.

Published 18 December 2007 in Eur Neurol, 59(1): 31-7.
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