Pattern of cerebral metabolic interactions in a subject with isolated amnesia at risk for Alzheimer's disease: a longitudinal evaluation.
A pattern of reduced cerebral metabolic rate for glucose (rCMRglc) has been shown by positron emission tomography (PET) in patients with dementia of the Alzheimer type. To verify if a similar rCMRglc pattern is present in subjects 'at risk' for Alzheimer's disease (AD), we used high-resolution PET to longitudinally study a subject with isolated memory impairment and a family history for autosomal dominant AD. Initial rCMRglc data did not reveal any consistent abnormality as compared to a group of sex- and age-matched healthy controls. However, 1 year later, a follow-up evaluation did reveal reduced parietal rCMRglc values coinciding with a worsening of cognitive impairment, which suggested that standard analyses of resting rCMRglc data may not be useful in the early diagnosis of AD. In contrast, when a previously determined discriminant function for distinguishing controls from AD patients was applied, the subject was correctly identified as an AD patient on both PET scans.
Pietrini
P
P
Laboratory of Neurosciences, National Institute on Aging, NIH, Bethesda, MD 20892.
Azari
N P
NP
Grady
C L
CL
Salerno
J A
JA
Gonzales-Aviles
A
A
Heston
L L
LL
Pettigrew
K D
KD
Horwitz
B
B
Haxby
J V
JV
Schapiro
M B
MB
D000368:Aged; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000523:psychology; D000647:Amnesia / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000523:psychology; D001923:Brain Chemistry / Q000502:physiology*; D003847:Deoxyglucose / Q000031:analogs & derivatives; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D005947:Glucose / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D012307:Risk Factors; D014055:Tomography, Emission-Computed
D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D003847:Deoxyglucose; D005947:Glucose