Publications by authors named "Nicky Barnett"
Introduction: Lewy body disease is postulated, by the Braak model, to originate in the enteric nervous system, before spreading to the central nervous system. Therefore, a high prevalence of gastroparesis symptoms would be expected in prodromal dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) and be highest in those with a dopaminergic deficit on imaging. The aim of this study was to explore whether gastroparesis symptoms are an early diagnostic marker of prodromal DLB and explore the relationship between symptoms and dopaminergic imaging findings on FP-CIT SPECT.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Dopaminergic imaging has high diagnostic accuracy for dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) at the dementia stage. We report the first investigation of dopaminergic imaging at the prodromal stage.
Methods: We recruited 75 patients over 60 with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), 33 with probable MCI with Lewy body disease (MCI-LB), 15 with possible MCI-LB and 27 with MCI with Alzheimer's disease.
Background: Positron emission tomography (PET) and single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) brain imaging are widely used as diagnostic tools for suspected dementia but no studies have directly compared participant views of the two procedures. We used a range of methods to explore preferences for PET and SPECT.
Methods: Patients and controls (and accompanying carers) completed questionnaires immediately after undergoing PET and SPECT brain scans.
Background: Imaging biomarkers for Alzheimer's disease include medial temporal lobe atrophy (MTLA) depicted on computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and patterns of reduced metabolism on fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET).
Aims: To investigate whether MTLA on head CT predicts the diagnostic usefulness of an additional FDG-PET scan.
Method: Participants had a clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (n = 37) or dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB; n = 30) or were similarly aged controls (n = 30).
Unlabelled: Brain imaging with glucose ((18)F-FDG) PET or blood flow (hexamethylpropyleneamine oxime) SPECT is widely used for the differential diagnosis of dementia, though direct comparisons to clearly establish superiority of one method have not been undertaken.
Methods: Subjects with Alzheimer disease (AD; n = 38) and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB; n = 30) and controls (n = 30) underwent (18)F-FDG PET and SPECT in balanced order. The main outcome measure was area under the curve (AUC) of receiver-operating-characteristic analysis of visual scan rating.
Background: Late life depression is often accompanied by slowed information processing during neuropsychological testing, and this has been related to underlying cerebrovascular disease. We investigated whether changes in electrophysiological markers of information processing might share the same pathological correlates.
Methods: Differences in power spectra frequency, contingent negative variation (CNV), post-imperative negative variation (PINV), and auditory P300a amplitude and latency in 19 patients with DSM-IV major depression aged ≥ 60 years were compared with 25 recordings in age-matched healthy controls.
Objective: The objective of this study was to compare functional impairments in dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) and Alzheimer disease (AD) and their relationship with motor and neuropsychiatric symptoms.
Methods: The authors conducted a cross-sectional study of 84 patients with DLB or AD in a secondary care setting. Patients were diagnosed according to published criteria for DLB and AD.