PIB-PET opens diagnostic front in Alzheimer's disease

Australian researchers using PET imaging with Pittsburgh Compound B found a link between the progressive accumulation of beta-amyloid plaque in the brain and mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease. Findings could pertain to anti-amyloid drugs now in clinical trials.

Dr. Christopher C. Rowe, director of nuclear medicine at the Austin Hospital's Centre for PET in Melbourne, and colleagues evaluated 44 Alzheimer's patients, 44 patients with mild cognitive impairment, and 34 healthy controls. The trial correlated results from psychometric memory tests and PIB standard uptake values in the frontal, posterior cingulate, parietal, lateral temporal, and occipital brain regions. Researchers found cortical PIB binding in all Alzheimer's patients, 60% of subjects with measurable cognitive deficits, and 20% of healthy volunteers. Findings were presented at the 2007 SNM meeting.