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European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging

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Open Access 01-09-2015 | Original Article

Amyloid PET in European and North American cohorts; and exploring age as a limit to clinical use of amyloid imaging

Authors: Konstantinos Chiotis, Stephen F. Carter, Karim Farid, Irina Savitcheva, Agneta Nordberg, for the Diagnostic Molecular Imaging (DiMI) network and the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative

Published in: European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging | Issue 10/2015

Abstract

Purpose

Several radiotracers that bind to fibrillar amyloid-beta in the brain have been developed and used in various patient cohorts. This study aimed to investigate the comparability of two amyloid positron emission tomography (PET) tracers as well as examine how age affects the discriminative properties of amyloid PET imaging.

Methods

Fifty-one healthy controls (HCs), 72 patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and 90 patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) from a European cohort were scanned with [11C]Pittsburgh compound-B (PIB) and compared with an age-, sex- and disease severity-matched population of 51 HC, 72 MCI and 84 AD patients from a North American cohort who were scanned with [18F]Florbetapir. An additional North American population of 246 HC, 342 MCI and 138 AD patients with a Florbetapir scan was split by age (55–75 vs 76–93 y) into groups matched for gender and disease severity. PET template-based analyses were used to quantify regional tracer uptake.

Results

The mean regional uptake patterns were similar and strong correlations were found between the two tracers across the regions of interest in HC (ρ = 0.671, p = 0.02), amyloid-positive MCI (ρ = 0.902, p < 0.001) and AD patients (ρ = 0.853, p < 0.001). The application of the Florbetapir cut-off point resulted in a higher proportion of amyloid-positive HC and a lower proportion of amyloid-positive AD patients in the older group (28 and 30 %, respectively) than in the younger group (19 and 20 %, respectively).

Conclusions

These results illustrate the comparability of Florbetapir and PIB in unrelated but matched patient populations. The role of amyloid PET imaging becomes increasingly important with increasing age in the diagnostic assessment of clinically impaired patients.

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Title: Amyloid PET in European and North American cohorts; and exploring age as a limit to clinical use of amyloid imaging
Authors: Konstantinos Chiotis
Stephen F. Carter
Karim Farid
Irina Savitcheva
Agneta Nordberg
for the Diagnostic Molecular Imaging (DiMI) network and the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative
Publication date: 01-09-2015
Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published in: European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging / Issue 10/2015
Print ISSN: 1619-7070
Electronic ISSN: 1619-7089
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00259-015-3115-5

Keynote webinar | Spotlight on medication adherence

Springer Medicine

Amyloid PET in European and North American cohorts; and exploring age as a limit to clinical use of amyloid imaging

Abstract

Purpose

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Keynote webinar | Spotlight on medication adherence

Springer Medicine

Abstract

Purpose

Methods

Results

Conclusions

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