Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, 2021

Is Amyloid Burden Measured by 18F-Flutemetamol PET Associated with Progression in Clinical Alzheimer’s Disease?

Background: Patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) show heterogeneity in clinical progression rate, and we have limited tools to predict prognosis. Amyloid burden from 18F-Flutemetamol positron emission tomography (PET), as measured by standardized uptake value ratios (SUVR), might provide prognostic information.

Objective: We investigate whether 18F-Flutemetamol PET composite or regional SUVRs are associated with trajectories of clinical progression.

Methods: This observational longitudinal study included 94 patients with clinical AD. PET images were semi-quantified with normalization to pons. Group-based trajectory modeling was applied to identify trajectory groups according to change in the Clinical Dementia Rating Scale Sum of Boxes (CDR-SB) over time. Multinomial logistic regression models assessed the association of SUVRs with trajectory group membership.

Results: Three trajectory groups were identified. In the regression models, neither composite nor regional SUVRs were associated with trajectory group membership.

Conclusion: There were no associations between CDR progression and 18F-Flutemetamol PET-derived composite SUVRs or regional SUVRs in clinical AD.

Forfatter(e)

Ebba Gløersen Müller, Trine Holt Edwin, Bjørn Heine Strand, Caroline Stokke, Mona Elisabeth Revheim, Anne-Brita Knapskog