Abstract

OBJECTIVE
We compared the ability of arterial spin labeling (ASL), an MRI method that measures cerebral blood flow (CBF), to that of FDG-PET in distinguishing patients with Alzheimer disease (AD) from healthy, age-matched controls.
METHODS
Fifteen patients with AD (mean age 72 ± 6 years, Mini-Mental State Examination score [MMSE] 20 ± 6) and 19 age-matched controls (mean age 68 ± 6 years, MMSE 29 ± 1) underwent structural MRI. Participants were injected with 5 mCi of FDG during pseudocontinuous ASL scan, which was followed by PET scanning. Statistical parametric mapping and regions of interest (ROI) analysis were used to compare the ability of the 2 modalities in distinguishing patients from controls. Similarity between the 2 modalities was further assessed with linear correlation maps of CBF and metabolism to neuropsychological test scores.
RESULTS
Good agreement between hypoperfusion and hypometabolism patterns was observed, with overlap primarily in bilateral angular gyri and posterior cingulate. ROI results showed similar scales of functional deficit between patients and controls in both modalities. Both ASL and FDG-PET were able to distinguish neural networks associated with different neuropsychological tests with good overlap between modalities.
CONCLUSIONS
Our voxel-wise results indicated that ASL-MRI provides largely overlapping information with FDG-PET. ROI analysis demonstrated that both modalities detected similar degrees of functional deficits in affected areas. Given its ease of acquisition and noninvasiveness, ASL-MRI may be an appealing alternative for AD studies.

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Authors

Chen Y, Wolk DA, Reddin JS, Korczykowski M, Martinez PM, Musiek ES, Newberg AB, Julin P, Arnold SE, Greenberg JH, Detre JA

Institution

Department of Neurology, University of Pennsylvania, 3W Gates Pavilion, 3400 Spruce St., Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.

Source

Neurology 77:22 2011 Nov 29 pg 1977-85

MeSH

Aged
Alzheimer Disease
Cerebrovascular Circulation
Energy Metabolism
Female
Fluorodeoxyglucose F18
Humans
Image Processing, Computer-Assisted
Magnetic Resonance Angiography
Male
Middle Aged
Positron-Emission Tomography
Predictive Value of Tests
Sensitivity and Specificity

Pub Type(s)

Comparative Study
Controlled Clinical Trial
Journal Article
Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Language

eng

PubMed ID

22094481