Techniques: PET β-amyloid score as a predictor of the degree of amyloid pathology in Alzheimer's disease (AD)

PET-based measurement of β-amyloid plaque severity in the brain could help stratify AD patients for clinical trials. In 35 patients with a confirmed diagnosis of AD, the severity of β-amyloid plaque pathology in postmortem brain tissue was scored on the Thal amyloid phase system (0 to 5), and the standard uptake value ratio (SUVR) - a measure of the amount of β-amyloid plaque - was determined from antemortem PET brain imaging with Pittsburgh compound B. Statistical analysis identified correlations between Thal amyloid scores and SUVRs, with each integer increase in Thal score corresponding to a 0.16 unit increase in SUVR. Next steps include using SUVRs from PET imaging with Pittsburgh compound B as inclusion criteria for AD clinical trials.

General Electric Co. and Eli Lilly and Co. each market a PET imaging agent for detection of β-amyloid deposition in the brain. ...