Head-to-head comparison of cerebral blood flow single-photon emission computed tomography and 18F-fluoro-2-deoxyglucose positron emission tomography in the diagnosis of Alzheimer disease

Abstract

Background: Clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer disease (AD) is only 70% accurate. Reduced cerebral blood flow (CBF) and metabolism in parieto-temporal and posterior cingulate cortex may assist diagnosis. While widely accepted that 18F-fluoro-2-deoxyglucose positron emission tomography (18F-FDG PET) has superior accuracy to CBF-SPECT for AD, there are very limited head-to-head data from clinically relevant populations and these studies relied on clinical diagnosis as the reference standard. Aims: To compare directly the accuracy of CBF-SPECT and 18F-FDG PET in patients referred for diagnostic studies in detecting β-amyloid PET confirmed AD. Methods: A total of 126 patients, 56% with mild cogniti..