Background:
A significant proportion of patients with clinically diagnosed Alzheimer’s
disease (AD) and an even higher proportion of patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment
(aMCI) do not show evidence of amyloid deposition on positron emission tomography (PET) with
amyloid-binding tracers such as 11C-labeled Pittsburgh Compound B (PiB).
Objective:
This study aimed to identify clinical, neuropsychological and neuroimaging factors that
might suggest amyloid neuropathology in patients with clinically suspected AD or aMCI.
Methods:
Forty patients with mild to moderate AD and 23 patients with aMCI who were clinically
diagnosed in our memory clinic and had PiB PET scans were included. Clinical, neuropsychologi-
cal, and imaging characteristics, such as medial temporal lobe atrophy (MTA) and white matter hy-
perintensities (WMH) on MRI and metabolic pattern on 18F-labeled fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET, were compared between patients with PiB positive and negative PET results for AD, aMCI,
and all subjects combined, respectively.
Results:
Compared with PiB positive patients, PiB negative patients had a higher prevalence of hy-
pertension history, better performance on the Mini-Mental State Examination, the Rey Auditory
Verbal Learning Test, and the Judgement of Line Orientation, lower score of MTA, and were less
likely to have temporoparietal-predominant hypometabolism on FDG PET. Affective symptoms
were less common in PiB negative patients diagnosed with AD, and the Animal Fluency Test score
was higher in PiB negative patients diagnosed with aMCI.
Conclusion:
: In patients with clinically diagnosed AD or aMCI, absence of a history of hyperten-
sion, deficits in verbal learning and memory, visuospatial function, semantic verbal fluency, pres-
ence of affective symptoms, MTA on MRI, and temporoparietal hypometabolism on FDG PET
suggested amyloid deposition in the brain.
Affective symptoms and AT(N) biomarkers in mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease: A systematic literature review
