Association Between Years of Education and Amyloid Burden in Patients With Subjective Cognitive Decline, MCI, and Alzheimer Disease.

Objectives: Higher-educated patients with Alzheimer disease (AD) can harbor greater neuropathologic burden than those with less education despite similar symptom severity. In this study, we assessed whether this observation is also present in potential preclinical AD stages, namely in individuals with subjective cognitive decline and clinical features increasing AD likelihood (SCD+).

Methods: Amyloid-PET information ([F]Flutemetamol or [F]Florbetaben) of individuals with SCD+, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and AD were retrieved from the AMYPAD-DPMS cohort, a multicenter randomized controlled study.

Combining plasma phospho-tau and accessible measures to evaluate progression to Alzheimer's dementia in mild cognitive impairment patients.

Background: Up to now, there are no clinically available minimally invasive biomarkers to accurately identify mild cognitive impairment (MCI) patients who are at greater risk to progress to Alzheimer's disease (AD) dementia. The recent advent of blood-based markers opens the door for more accessible biomarkers. We aimed to identify which combinations of AD related plasma biomarkers and other easily accessible assessments best predict progression to AD dementia in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI).

Visual assessment of [F]flutemetamol PET images can detect early amyloid pathology and grade its extent.

Purpose: To investigate the sensitivity of visual read (VR) to detect early amyloid pathology and the overall utility of regional VR.

Methods: [F]Flutemetamol PET images of 497 subjects (ALFA+ N = 352; ADC N = 145) were included. Scans were visually assessed according to product guidelines, recording the number of positive regions (0-5) and a final negative/positive classification.

Derivation and utility of an Aβ-PET pathology accumulation index to estimate Aβ load.

Objective: To evaluate a novel β-amyloid (Aβ)-PET-based quantitative measure (Aβ accumulation index [Aβ index]), including the assessment of its ability to discriminate between participants based on Aβ status using visual read, CSF Aβ/Aβ, and post-mortem neuritic plaque burden as standards of truth.

Methods: One thousand one hundred twenty-one participants (with and without cognitive impairment) were scanned with Aβ-PET: Swedish BioFINDER, n = 392, [F]flutemetamol; Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI), n = 692, [F]florbetapir; and a phase 3 end-of-life study, n = 100, [F]flutemetamol. The relationships between Aβ index and standardized uptake values ratios (SUVR) from Aβ-PET were assessed.

Post-mortem analyses of PiB and flutemetamol in diffuse and cored amyloid-β plaques in Alzheimer's disease.

Specificity and sensitivity of positron emission tomography (PET) radiopharmaceuticals targeting fibrillar amyloid-β (Aβ) deposits is high for detection of neuritic Aβ plaques, a mature form of Aβ deposits which often have dense Aβ core (i.e., cored plaques).

Centiloid scaling for quantification of brain amyloid with [F]flutemetamol using multiple processing methods.

Introduction: A standardised method for quantifying β-amyloid PET tracers would allow comparison across different tracers and different sites. The development of the Centiloid scale has aimed to achieve this, applying a common scale to better aid the diagnosis and prognosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and to monitor anti-amyloid therapeutic interventions. Here, we apply the Centiloid method to [F]flutemetamol and [C]PiB (PiB, Pittsburgh compound B) PET images and derive the scaling factor to express their binding in Centiloids.

Use of Flutemetamol F 18-Labeled Positron Emission Tomography and Other Biomarkers to Assess Risk of Clinical Progression in Patients With Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment.

Importance: Patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) may progress to clinical Alzheimer disease (AD), remain stable, or revert to normal. Earlier progression to AD among patients who were β-amyloid positive vs those who were β-amyloid negative has been previously observed. Current research now accepts that a combination of biomarkers could provide greater refinement in the assessment of risk for clinical progression.

Validation of prognostic biomarker scores for predicting progression of dementia in patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment.

Objective: The objective of this study was to develop and validate a practical computerized prognostic model that uses baseline psychometric and imaging data, including results of PET imaging of amyloid deposition, to predict the progression to dementia in patients at risk for Alzheimer's disease (AD).

Patients And Methods: Data from patients in a phase II trial of [F]flutemetamol for PET imaging of brain amyloid and from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative were used to train the prognostic model to yield a disease state index (DSI), a measure of the similarity of an individual patient's data to data from patients in specific diagnostic groups. Inputs to the model included amyloid PET results, MRI measurements of hippocampal volume, and the results of psychometric tests.

Performance of [F]flutemetamol amyloid imaging against the neuritic plaque component of CERAD and the current (2012) NIA-AA recommendations for the neuropathologic diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease.

Introduction: Performance of the amyloid tracer [F]flutemetamol was evaluated against three pathology standard of truth (SoT) measures including neuritic plaques (CERAD "original" and "modified" and the amyloid component of the 2012 NIA-AA guidelines).

Methods: After [F]flutemetamol imaging, 106 end-of-life patients who died underwent postmortem brain examination for amyloid plaque load. Blinded positron emission tomography scan interpretations by five independent electronically trained readers were compared with pathology measures.

Validation of an electronic image reader training programme for interpretation of [18F]flutemetamol β-amyloid PET brain images.

Objectives: An electronic training programme (ETP) was developed for interpretation of images during routine clinical use of the PET amyloid imaging agent [F]flutemetamol injection (VIZAMYL). This study was carried out to validate the ETP.

Materials And Methods: Five nuclear medicine technologists (NMTs) and five readers previously inexperienced in amyloid image interpretation were required to self-train using the ETP and pass a test to participate.

Gait event detection in laboratory and real life settings: Accuracy of ankle and waist sensor based methods.

Wearable sensors technology based on inertial measurement units (IMUs) is leading the transition from laboratory-based gait analysis, to daily life gait monitoring. However, the validity of IMU-based methods for the detection of gait events has only been tested in laboratory settings, which may not reproduce real life walking patterns. The aim of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of two algorithms for the detection of gait events and temporal parameters during free-living walking, one based on two shank-worn inertial sensors, and the other based on one waist-worn sensor.

Phase 3 trial of flutemetamol labeled with radioactive fluorine 18 imaging and neuritic plaque density.

Importance: In vivo imaging of brain β-amyloid, a hallmark of Alzheimer disease, may assist in the clinical assessment of suspected Alzheimer disease.

Objective: To determine the sensitivity and specificity of positron emission tomography imaging with flutemetamol injection labeled with radioactive fluorine 18 to detect β-amyloid in the brain using neuropathologically determined neuritic plaque levels as the standard of truth.

Design, Setting, And Participants: Open-label multicenter imaging study that took place at dementia clinics, memory centers, and hospice centers in the United States and England from June 22, 2010, to November 23, 2011.