¹⁸ F-fluorodopa PET study of striatal dopamine uptake in the diagnosis of dementia with Lewy bodies

Abstract

Using (18)F-fluorodopa PET and a constant 0.0062 influx rate in the putamen, dementia with Lewy bodies (n = 7) was distinguished from AD (n = 10) with a sensitivity of 86% and a specificity of 100%. A constant 0.0071 influx rate in the caudate yielded a sensitivity of 71% and a specificity of 100% for distinction of the two disorders. Despite a limited sample size, these findings suggest that assessing nigrostriatal dopaminergic function with (18)F-fluorodopa PET may be a useful diagnostic aid in cases of dementia with Lewy bodies while patients are alive.

In Vivo Measurement of Vesicular Monoamine Transporter Type 2 Density in Parkinson Disease with 18F-AV-133

“…A longitudinal study in mildly affected PD patients or individuals at risk of PD will elucidate the usefulness of this tracer for early or presymptomatic diagnosis of PD (6). As shown in previous PET and SPECT studies (19,22,23), the evaluation of presynaptic dopaminergic integrity would also be useful in the differential diagnosis of dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) from Alzheimer disease (AD), for which severe nigrostriatal dopaminergic degeneration, similar to that observed in PD, is present in DLB but not in AD. Additional studies comparing 18 F-AV-133 binding in DLB and AD patients are warranted.…”

Striatal monoamine terminals in Lewy body dementia and Alzheimer's disease

“…The approaches used have included PET studies of local cerebral metabolic rates for glucose (lCMRglc), 30 single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) investigations of local cerebral blood flow, 31 and both PET [32][33][34][35] and SPECT 36 -39 studies of nigrostriatal projections using ligands that label dopaminergic presynaptic or postsynaptic sites. Three studies examined striatal dopaminergic presynaptic terminals in various groups of cases that included PD, DLB, AD and normal age-appropriate controls using PET with the striatal dopaminergic presynaptic ligand [ 18 F]fluorodopa [32][33][34] and one with the dopamine presynaptic reuptake ligand […”

Target-Specific PET Probes for Neurodegenerative Disorders Related to Dementia

“…A decrease in uptake of striatal 6-18 F-fluoro-L-dopa was observed in PD and PDD, without differences between groups (87). A deficit of dopamine synthesis similar to that in PD has been found in DLB, even at a stage when parkinsonism may not yet be prominent (88), whereas no similar abnormality is seen in patients with AD.…”