Amyloid PET scans offer clearer diagnosis, earlier treatment for Alzheimer's disease

Amyloid positron emission tomography scans provide clearer diagnosis and earlier, more effective treatment for Alzheimer’s disease, according to study findings presented at the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging Annual Meeting.

Erica Parker, a research coordinator in the nuclear medicine department at Ronald Reagan Hospital, University of California, Los Angeles, and colleagues reviewed clinical outcomes of two positron emission tomography (PET) scans: a preliminary scan using fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) as a radiotracer and amyloid PET. Scan results for 100 patients with mild cognitive impairment were blindly evaluated.

Eighty-two percent of patients whose scans were initially indeterminate experienced subsequent cognitive decline.

Of the patients with indeterminate FDG-PET scans, 50% had amyloid scans positive for neurodegenerative disease.

These findings coupled with results from another study, which found that Alzheimer’s treatment was administered earlier for 40% of patients with positive FDG-PET scan results, suggest patients with an amyloid scan after an ambiguous FDG-PET scan may experience significant cognitive improvements.

“By acquiring an amyloid imaging scan within a month of the indeterminate FDG-PET, managing physicians can treat patients with an Alzheimer’s-like pattern of reduced brain metabolism with a better chance of preserving cognitive function,” Parker said in a press release.

Disclosure: Healio.com/Psychiatry was unable to confirm relevant financial disclosures at the time of publication.

Reference:

Parker EM, et al. Scientific paper #191. Presented at: Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging Annual Meeting; June 6-10, 2015; Baltimore.