Neuroimaging in Alzheimer’s Disease
The diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is often based on clinical and pathological data. Positron emission tomography (PET) using the tracer 18F-FDG revealed findings specific to AD-mainly the posterior part of the brain and the association cortices of the parietal and occipital lobes were affected by a reduction in glucose metabolism. Recent advances in the development of tracers for amyloid protein, which is the key protein in the pathogenesis of AD, enables the pattern of deposition of amyloid protein in the brain to be visualized. Various tracers have been introduced to visualize other aspects of AD pathology. Recent clinical interests on dementia have focused on the early detection of AD and variation of Parkinson’s disease, namely dementia with Lewy body disease (DLB), because the earlier the diagnosis, the better the prognosis. The differential diagnosis of mild AD or mild cognitive impairment (MCI) as well as DLB has been studied using PET and MRI as part of the NIH’s Alzheimer disease Neuroimaging initiative (ADNI). At present, many countries are participating in the ADNI, which is yielding promising results. This chapter’s study will improve the development of new drugs for the treatment of dementia patients by enabling the evaluation of the effect and efficacy of those drugs.