The cingulate island sign within early Alzheimer's disease-specific hypoperfusion volumes of interest is useful for differentiating Alzheimer's disease from dementia with Lewy bodies.
BACKGROUND
In addition to occipital hypoperfusion, preserved metabolism of the posterior cingulate gyri (PCG) relative to the precunei is known as the cingulate island sign (CIS) in the patients with dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB). CIS has been detected using [(18)F]fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography but not using brain perfusion single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT). The purpose of this study was to optimize brain perfusion SPECT to enable differentiation of DLB from Alzheimer's disease (AD) using CIS and occipital hypoperfusion. Eighteen patients with probable DLB and 17 age-matched Pittsburgh compound B-positive patients with AD underwent technetium-99m ethyl cysteinate dimer SPECT. SPECT Z-score maps were generated using the easy Z-score imaging system (eZIS) analysis software (Matsuda H, Mizumura S, Nagao T, Ota T, Iizuka T, Nemoto K, Takemura N, Arai H, Homma A, AJNR Am J Neuroradiol 28(4):731-6, 2007), which included volumes of interest (VOIs) in which a group comparison between patients with AD and cognitively normal subjects revealed significant relative hypoperfusion. We used the Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI) space anatomical border to divide the bilateral PCG to precunei VOIs into two parts, the PCG and precunei. Z-scores in the PCG, precunei, and occipital areas and ratios were analysed and compared with receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses.


RESULTS
The largest area under the curve (AUC) value for use in differentiating DLB from AD with the ratio of PCG to medial occipital was 0.87; the accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity were 85.7, 88.9, and 82.4 %, respectively. The AUC with the ratio of PCG to the precuneus was smaller, and it was 0.85, though no significant difference was observed between these two AUCs.


CONCLUSIONS
The Z-score ratio of the PCG within the early-AD-specific VOI to medial-occipital area is clinically useful in discriminating demented patients with DLB from those with AD.
Integrative Brain Imaging Center, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, 4-1-1 Ogawahigashi, 187-8551, Kodaira, Tokyo, Japan. embysh@ncnp.go.jp.
Etsuko
http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1708-3618
E
Imabayashi
Department of Radiology, National Center for Global Health and Medicine, 1-21-1 Toyama, 162-8655, Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan.
Kota
K
Yokoyama
Department of Neurology, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, 4-1-1 Ogawahigashi, 187-8551, Kodaira, Tokyo, Japan.
Tadashi
T
Tsukamoto
Department of Radiology, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, 4-1-1 Ogawahigashi, 187-8551, Kodaira, Tokyo, Japan.
Daichi
D
Sone
Department of Radiology, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, 113-8654, Bunkyoku, Tokyo, Japan.
Kaoru
K
Sumida
Department of Radiology, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, 4-1-1 Ogawahigashi, 187-8551, Kodaira, Tokyo, Japan.
Yukio
Y
Kimura
Department of Radiology, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, 4-1-1 Ogawahigashi, 187-8551, Kodaira, Tokyo, Japan.
Noriko
N
Sato
Department of Neurology, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, 4-1-1 Ogawahigashi, 187-8551, Kodaira, Tokyo, Japan.
Miho
M
Murata
Integrative Brain Imaging Center, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, 4-1-1 Ogawahigashi, 187-8551, Kodaira, Tokyo, Japan.
Hiroshi
H
Matsuda
Alzheimer’s disease; Brain perfusion SPECT; CIS; DLB; Imaging