title: [18F]FDG-PET in patients with Alzheimer's disease: marker of disease spread.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  It is not known yet whether temporoparietal glucose hypometabolism in patients with probable Alzheimer's disease (AD) reflects disease severity or different subtypes of patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty-five subjects with mild probable AD [NINCDS-ADRDA criteria; age 65.8 +/- 9.3 years (mean +/- SD); Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) 26.0 +/- 3.3] were investigated. [(18)F]FDG-PET data were analyzed visually with raters blinded to the diagnosis and with a quantitative analysis in the region of interest on individual anatomically normalized PET scans.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Thirteen of 25 patients showed temporoparietal hypometabolism on visual inspection (PET+; age 65.7 +/- 10.7), 12 patients had normal FDG-PET results (PET-; age 65.9 +/- 8.0; n.s.). The MMSE and immediate reproduction of the Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS-R-I) were 27.7 +/- 1.9 and 31.1 +/- 6.1 in the PET- vs. 24.5 +/- 3.6 (p = 0.012) and 22.0 +/- 7.4 (p = 0.006) in the PET+ group. Immediate and delayed recall in the California Verbal Learning Test and delayed reproduction in the Wechsler Memory Scale were alike. Regression analysis revealed a significant correlation of temporoparietal glucose metabolism with the block span (r = 0.60; p < 0.01) and the WMS-R-I (r = 0.68; p < 0.01) but not with measures of hippocampal function.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Temporoparietal glucose metabolism in patients with very mild AD is a sign of disease spread beyond the temporal lobe. This may aid in establishing objective parameters for future therapeutic studies.
authors.affiliation: Memory Clinic, University of Ulm, Ulm, Germany.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bittner
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Grön
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Schirrmeister
authors.forename: S N
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Reske
authors.forename: M W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Riepe
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D000647:Amnesia / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000378:metabolism*; D001921:Brain / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology; D008609:Mental Status Schedule; D008875:Middle Aged; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging
chemical_list: D001786:Blood Glucose; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18