The pilot European Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative of the European Alzheimer's Disease Consortium.
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.
Frisoni
Giovanni B
GB
IRCCS Centro San Giovanni di Dio Fatebenefratelli, Brescia, Italy. gfrisoni@fatebenefratelli.it
Henneman
Wouter J P
WJ
Weiner
Michael W
MW
Scheltens
Philip
P
Vellas
Bruno
B
Reynish
Emma
E
Hudecova
Jaroslava
J
Hampel
Harald
H
Burger
Katharina
K
Blennow
Kaj
K
Waldemar
Gunhild
G
Johannsen
Peter
P
Wahlund
Lars-Olof
LO
Zito
Giancarlo
G
Rossini
Paolo M
PM
Winblad
Bengt
B
Barkhof
Frederik
F
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