In vivo amyloid imaging with PET in frontotemporal dementia.
BACKGROUND
N-methyl[11C]2-(4'methylaminophenyl)-6-hydroxy-benzothiazole (PIB) is a positron emission tomography (PET) tracer with amyloid binding properties which allows in vivo measurement of cerebral amyloid load in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is a syndrome that can be clinically difficult to distinguish from AD, but in FTD amyloid deposition is not a characteristic pathological finding.


OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study is to investigate PIB retention in FTD.


METHODS
Ten patients with the diagnosis of FTD participated. The diagnosis was based on clinical and neuropsychological examination, computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging scan, and PET with 18 Fluoro-2-deoxy-d-glucose (FDG). The PIB retention, measured in regions of interest, was normalised to a reference region (cerebellum). The results were compared with PIB retention data previously obtained from 17 AD patients with positive PIB retention and eight healthy controls (HC) with negative PIB retention. Statistical analysis was performed with a students t-test with significance level set to 0.00625 after Bonferroni correction.


RESULTS
Eight FTD patients showed significantly lower PIB retention compared to AD in frontal (p < 0.0001), parietal (p < 0.0001), temporal (p = 0.0001), and occipital (p = 0.0003) cortices as well as in putamina (p < 0.0001). The PIB uptake in these FTD patients did not differ significantly from the HC in any region. However, two of the 10 FTD patients showed PIB retention similar to AD patients.


CONCLUSIONS
The majority of FTD patients displayed no PIB retention. Thus, PIB could potentially aid in differentiating between FTD and AD.
Engler
Henry
H
Department of Nuclear Medicine, Uruguay University Hospital of Clinics and Faculty of Science, Montevideo, Uruguay. henry.engler@medsci.uu.se
Santillo
Alexander Frizell
AF
Wang
Shu Xia
SX
Lindau
Maria
M
Savitcheva
Irina
I
Nordberg
Agneta
A
Lannfelt
Lars
L
Långström
Bengt
B
Kilander
Lena
L
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000378:metabolism; D000682:Amyloid / Q000032:analysis* / Q000378:metabolism; D000814:Aniline Compounds; D052160:Benzothiazoles / Q000378:metabolism; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003704:Dementia / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000378:metabolism*; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D013844:Thiazoles
C475519:2-(4'-(methylamino)phenyl)-6-hydroxybenzothiazole; D000682:Amyloid; D000814:Aniline Compounds; D052160:Benzothiazoles; D013844:Thiazoles