Genetic Algorithms for Optimized Diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease and Frontotemporal Dementia Using Fluorodeoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography Imaging.

Genetic algorithms have a proven capability to explore a large space of solutions, and deal with very large numbers of input features. We hypothesized that the application of these algorithms to F-Fluorodeoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography (FDG-PET) may help in diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD) by selecting the most meaningful features and automating diagnosis. We aimed to develop algorithms for the three main issues in the diagnosis: discrimination between patients with AD or FTD and healthy controls (HC), differential diagnosis between behavioral FTD (bvFTD) and AD, and differential diagnosis between primary progressive aphasia (PPA) variants.

Personalized Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation for Primary Progressive Aphasia.

Background: Primary progressive aphasia (PPA) is a neurodegenerative syndrome for which no effective treatment is available.

Objective: We aimed to assess the effect of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), using personalized targeting.

Methods: We conducted a randomized, double-blind, pilot study of patients with PPA receiving rTMS, with a subgroup of patients receiving active- versus control-site rTMS in a cross-over design.

Association of visual and quantitative heterogeneity of 18F-FDG PET images with treatment response in locally advanced rectal cancer: A feasibility study.

Background And Purpose: Few tools are available to predict tumor response to treatment. This retrospective study assesses visual and automatic heterogeneity from 18F-FDG PET images as predictors of response in locally advanced rectal cancer.

Methods: This study included 37 LARC patients who underwent an 18F-FDG PET before their neoadjuvant therapy.

Accuracy of F-FDG PET/CT in patients with the suspicion of cardiac implantable electronic device infections.

Background: Utility of F-FDG PET/CT in diagnosing infective endocarditis (IE) associated with cardiac implantable electronic devices (CIEDs) is not well established. Current ESC guidelines recommend the use of FDG-PET imaging in patients with CIEDs and positive blood cultures, but the number of studies evaluating the diagnostic performance of FDG-PET imaging in these patients remain limited. Our objective was to assess the diagnostic yield of F-FDG PET/CT in patients with suspected CIED infections, differentiating between pocket infection (PI) and lead infection (CIED-IE).

Amyloid PET findings in multiple sclerosis are associated with cognitive decline at 18 months.

Objective: To study the clinical, cognitive, and radiological progression of a cohort of patients with MS, taking into account the amyloid PET with F-florbetaben analyses.

Methods: Twenty-nine patients with MS were assessed with longitudinal structural MRI and a clinical and comprehensive neuropsychological protocol, with a mean interval between assessments of 18 ± 3.31 months.

Clustering Analysis of FDG-PET Imaging in Primary Progressive Aphasia.

Primary progressive aphasia (PPA) is a clinical syndrome characterized by the neurodegeneration of language brain systems. Three main clinical forms (non-fluent, semantic, and logopenic PPA) have been recognized, but applicability of the classification and the capacity to predict the underlying pathology is controversial. We aimed to study FDG-PET imaging data in a large consecutive case series of patients with PPA to cluster them into different subtypes according to regional brain metabolism.

Inhibition impairment in frontotemporal dementia, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and Alzheimer's disease: clinical assessment and metabolic correlates.

The ability to reject an automatic tendency, i.e. inhibition, has been linked to the prefrontal cortex, but its neural underpinnings are still controversial.

Usefulness of positron emission tomography/computed tomography in patients with valve-tube graft infection.

Objective: Infection of valved aortic grafts is a rare entity whose diagnosis remains challenging. Positron emission tomography (PET)/CT has become a criterion for the diagnosis of infective endocarditis (IE) in prosthetic valves, but its role on ascending aortic graft infections remains unclear. This study aims to assess the diagnostic value of PET/CT in patients with valved aortic graft infection.

Comparison between FCSRT and LASSI-L to Detect Early Stage Alzheimer's Disease.

Background: The Free and Cued Selective Reminding Test (FCSRT) is the most accurate test for the diagnosis of prodromal Alzheimer's disease (AD). Recently, a novel cognitive test, the Loewenstein-Acevedo Scale for Semantic Interference and Learning (LASSI-L), has been developed in order to provide an early diagnosis.

Objective: To compare the diagnostic accuracy of the FCSRT and the LASSI-L for the diagnosis of AD in its preclinical and prodromal stages using 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) as a reference.

Amyloid PET in pseudotumoral multiple sclerosis.

Background: Pseudotumoral multiple sclerosis is a rare form of demyelinating disease of the central nervous system. Positron emission tomography (PET) using amyloid-tracers has also been suggested as a marker of damage in white matter lesions in multiple sclerosis due to the nonspecific uptake of these tracers in white matter.

Method: We present the case of a 59 year-old woman with a pathological-confirmed pseudotumoral multiple sclerosis, who was studied with the amyloid tracer F-florbetaben.

Reading difficulties in primary progressive aphasia in a regular language-speaking cohort of patients.

Reading impairment is an important feature in Primary Progressive Aphasia (PPA). The Spanish orthography entails completely regular spelling to sound correspondences, so reading disorders may be different to English. In the current study, reading, phonological and semantic abilities of 35 patients with the three variants of PPA, and 13 healthy volunteers were assessed.

Amyloid- and FDG-PET in sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease: Correlation with pathological prion protein in neuropathology.

Introduction: The role of positron emission tomography (PET) in Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease is less defined than in other neurodegenerative diseases. We studied the correlation between the uptake of F-florbetaben and F-fluorodeoxyglucose with pathological prion protein deposition in histopathology in a case.

Methods: A patient with 80 y old with a rapid neurological deterioration with a confirmed diagnosis of CJD was studied.

Episodic Memory Dysfunction in Behavioral Variant Frontotemporal Dementia: A Clinical And FDG-PET Study.

Background: Episodic memory disturbance is still considered as an exclusion criterion for behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD), but growing evidence suggests that memory can be impaired.

Objective: Our main purposes were to assess episodic memory in a group of bvFTD patients comparatively with Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients, and analyze the relationship between episodic memory and brain metabolism measured using positron emission tomography imaging with 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG-PET).

Methods: Twenty-six bvFTD, 29 AD, and 24 healthy controls were included.

Different apathy clinical profile and neural correlates in behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

Objectives: Apathy is one of the most common and disabling syndromes of dementia. Clinical apathy expression and neuroanatomical basis of apathy seem to differ between behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) and Alzheimer's disease (AD), although evidence is scarce and poorly understood. Our main purposes were to compare the clinical apathy profile from patients with bvFTD and AD and analyze the relationship between apathy and brain metabolism measured using positron emission tomography imaging with F fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG-PET).

Neural Basis of Cognitive Assessment in Alzheimer Disease, Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment, and Subjective Memory Complaints.

Introduction: Interpreting cognitive tests is often challenging. The same test frequently examines multiple cognitive functions, and the functional and anatomical basis underlying test performance is unknown in many cases. This study analyses the correlation of different neuropsychological test results with brain metabolism in a series of patients evaluated for suspected Alzheimer disease.

Amyloid- and FDG-PET imaging in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Purpose: We aimed to study brain metabolism and presence of beta-amyloid deposits using positron emission tomography (PET) in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

Methods: This prospective cross-sectional study included 18 patients with definite or probable ALS according to the revised El Escorial diagnostic criteria, and 24 healthy controls. Patients underwent neurological and neuropsychological assessments, PET with (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG), and amyloid-PET with (18)F-florbetaben.

Amyloid Proteins and Their Role in Multiple Sclerosis. Considerations in the Use of Amyloid-PET Imaging.

Thioflavin T derivatives are used in positron-emission tomography (PET) studies to detect amyloid protein deposits in patients with Alzheimer disease. These tracers bind extensively to white matter, which suggests that they may be useful in studies of multiple sclerosis (MS), and that proteins resulting from proteolytic processing of the amyloid precursor protein (APP) may contribute to MS. This article reviews data from both clinical and preclinical studies addressing the role of these proteins, whether they are detected in CSF studies or using PET imaging.

Amyloid PET imaging in multiple sclerosis: an (18)F-florbetaben study.

Background: Positron emission tomography (PET) images with amyloid tracers show normal uptake in healthy white matter, which suggests that amyloid tracers are potentially useful for studying such white matter diseases as multiple sclerosis (MS).

Methods: Twelve patients diagnosed with MS (5 with RRMS, 5 with SPMS, and 2 with PPMS) and 3 healthy controls underwent studies with MRI and (18)F-florbetaben-PET imaging. Images were preprocessed using Statistical Parametric Mapping software.

Amyloid and FDG-PET study of logopenic primary progressive aphasia: evidence for the existence of two subtypes.

The logopenic variant of primary progressive aphasia (lvPPA) has been associated with Alzheimer disease, although this relationship is still subject to debate. The purpose of this study is to determine the frequency of amyloid biomarkers in patients with lvPPA, and record any potential clinical or topographic differences between patients with and without amyloid deposits. We conducted cognitive examination and positron-emission tomography studies with fluorodeoxyglucose ((18)F) and florbetapir ((18)F) in a cohort of 16 patients diagnosed with lvPPA.

Visual and statistical analysis of ¹⁸F-FDG PET in primary progressive aphasia.

Purpose: Diagnosing progressive primary aphasia (PPA) and its variants is of great clinical importance, and fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET) may be a useful diagnostic technique. The purpose of this study was to evaluate interobserver variability in the interpretation of FDG PET images in PPA as well as the diagnostic sensitivity and specificity of the technique. We also aimed to compare visual and statistical analyses of these images.

Clinical course of primary progressive aphasia: clinical and FDG-PET patterns.

Primary progressive aphasia (PPA) may be the onset of several neurodegenerative diseases. This study evaluates a cohort of patients with PPA to assess their progression to different clinical syndromes, associated factors that modulate this progression, and patterns of cerebral metabolism linked to different clinical evolutionary forms. Thirty-five patients meeting PPA criteria underwent a clinical and neuroimaging (18)F-Fluorodeoxyglucose PET evaluation.