[Systematic review of the value of positron emission tomography in the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease].
BACKGROUND
A great deal of controversy has arisen about the role positron emission tomography (PET) has to play in the diagnostic assessment of Alzheimer s disease (AD). AIMS. The objective of this study is to review, assess and synthesize existing evidence about the value of PET in the prediction of the progression towards dementia undergone by subjects with mild cognitive impairment and in the differential diagnosis of AD from other types of dementia.


METHODS
We performed a systematic review with explicit search criteria in primary and secondary databases in order to locate documents that could serve our research purposes. Selection and assessment of the quality of the documents found was performed according to a set of pre established criteria. The search for secondary sources yielded nine technical reports, a clinical guideline and a systematic review. To sum up their conclusions it would appear that little work has been published, it is of poor quality and the findings are against the routine use of this technology. The search in primary sources produced three original scientific papers dealing with its value in prediction and two others that referred to differential diagnosis; this new evidence did not, however, modify the previous conclusions.


CONCLUSIONS
At present, and according to available evidence, the routine use of PET cannot be recommended in the diagnostic assessment of AD. The number of original works available is very low and, generally speaking, they offer important methodological limitations.
Carnero-Pardo
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Servicio de Neurología, Hospital Virgen de las Nieves, Granada, España. ccarnerop@supercable.es
D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016239:MEDLINE; D008297:Male; D012107:Research Design; D014055:Tomography, Emission-Computed / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data