Clinical history, brain metabolism, and neuropsychological function in Alzheimer's disease

Abstract

Data concerning 7 patients with a diagnosis of presumptive Alzheimer's disease (mean age, 65.6 years) are presented in detail in relation to the patients' regional cerebral metabolic rates for glucose. Rates were measured by positron emission tomography with fluorine 18-labeled fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose under conditions of reduced visual and auditory stimulation. A relationship was found between severity of dementia and brain metabolism. In patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease, memory and intellectual deficits were evident without major reductions in absolute metabolic rates, while ratios of regional to whole brain metabolism revealed reductions in regions of the parietal lobes. In the late, severe form of the disease, brain metabolic rates were consistently and significantly reduced. The findings suggest that memory and intellectual deficits are reflected in reductions of brain metabolism in some brain regions in mild to moderate forms of Alzheimer's disease and that, in the late, severe form of the disease, reductions occur consistently throughout the brain.

Glucose metabolic rate and progression of illness in Alzheimer's disease

“…That is, in those patients in whom cognitive function and anterior cortical regions are most im-paired, the lateral temporal and occipital cortices show higher relative metabolism. This finding is not unlike that of Cutler et al (1985), who found high relative occipital FDG metabolism in the most severe AD cases, and is consistent with neuropathological sparing of the occipital cortex (Brun and Englund, 1981). Our findings suggests that there may also be relative sparing of lateral temporal cortex in early AD.…”

Visual Assessment Versus Quantitative Assessment of 11C-PIB PET and 18F-FDG PET for Detection of Alzheimer's Disease

“…Although there is no consensus on the most suitable reference region for normalization of SUVs for intersubject comparison of 18 F-FDG scans, the cerebellar cortex has been widely utilized. The metabolism of cerebellar cortex has been shown to be relatively unaffected in mild-tomoderate AD (1,28,29), though significant hypometabolism has been reported in severe AD (30).…”

Effect of Piracetam on Cerebral Glucose Metabolism in Alzheimer's Disease as Measured by Positron Emission Tomography

“…Standardized regional quanti tation was achieved using an interactive mapping pro gram (Herholz et aI., 1985). A categorical region matching and block shifting procedure (Pawlik et aI., 1986) provided optimal comparability both among sub- (Ferris et al, 1980;Benson et al, 1983;De Leon et al, 1983;Friedland et al, 1985;Cutler et al, 1985).…”