title: The pilot European Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative of the European Alzheimer's Disease Consortium.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  In North America, the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) has established a platform to track the brain changes of Alzheimer's disease. A pilot study has been carried out in Europe to test the feasibility of the adoption of the ADNI platform (pilot E-ADNI).
  
  
  METHODS
  Seven academic sites of the European Alzheimer's Disease Consortium (EADC) enrolled 19 patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), 22 with AD, and 18 older healthy persons by using the ADNI clinical and neuropsychological battery. ADNI compliant magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans, cerebrospinal fluid, and blood samples were shipped to central repositories. Medial temporal atrophy (MTA) and white matter hyperintensities (WMH) were assessed by a single rater by using visual rating scales.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Recruitment rate was 3.5 subjects per month per site. The cognitive, behavioral, and neuropsychological features of the European subjects were very similar to their U.S. counterparts. Three-dimensional T1-weighted MRI sequences were successfully performed on all subjects, and cerebrospinal fluid samples were obtained from 77%, 68%, and 83% of AD patients, MCI patients, and controls, respectively. Mean MTA score showed a significant increase from controls (left, right: 0.4, 0.3) to MCI patients (0.9, 0.8) to AD patients (2.3, 2.0), whereas mean WMH score did not differ among the three diagnostic groups (between 0.7 and 0.9). The distribution of both MRI markers was comparable to matched US-ADNI subjects.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Academic EADC centers can adopt the ADNI platform to enroll MCI and AD patients and older controls with global cognitive and structural imaging features remarkably similar to those of the US-ADNI.
authors.affiliation: IRCCS Centro San Giovanni di Dio Fatebenefratelli, Brescia, Italy. gfrisoni@fatebenefratelli.it
authors.forename: Giovanni B
authors.initials: GB
authors.lastname: Frisoni
authors.forename: Wouter J P
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Henneman
authors.forename: Michael W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Weiner
authors.forename: Philip
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Scheltens
authors.forename: Bruno
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Vellas
authors.forename: Emma
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Reynish
authors.forename: Jaroslava
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hudecova
authors.forename: Harald
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hampel
authors.forename: Katharina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Burger
authors.forename: Kaj
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Blennow
authors.forename: Gunhild
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Waldemar
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Johannsen
authors.forename: Lars-Olof
authors.initials: LO
authors.lastname: Wahlund
authors.forename: Giancarlo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zito
authors.forename: Paolo M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Rossini
authors.forename: Bengt
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Winblad
authors.forename: Frederik
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Barkhof
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010865:Pilot Projects