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. 2018 Feb 7:10:210-216.
doi: 10.1016/j.dadm.2018.01.005. eCollection 2018.

Elevated medial temporal lobe and pervasive brain tau-PET signal in normal participants

Val J Lowe  1 , Tyler J Bruinsma  1 , Hoon-Ki Min  1 , Emily S Lundt  2 , Ping Fang  1 , Matthew L Senjem  1   3 , Bradley F Boeve  4 , Keith A Josephs  4 , Mukesh K Pandey  1 , Melissa E Murray  5 , Kejal Kantarci  1 , David T Jones  1   4 , Christopher G Schwarz  1 , David S Knopman  4 , Ronald C Petersen  4 , Clifford R Jack Jr  1
Affiliations

Elevated medial temporal lobe and pervasive brain tau-PET signal in normal participants

Val J Lowe et al. Alzheimers Dement (Amst). .

Abstract

Introduction: Medial temporal lobe (MTL) uptake on tau-positron emission tomography (PET) is seen not only in Alzheimer's disease (AD) dementia but also in the aging population. The relationship of these findings to the development of AD dementia needs to be better understood.

Methods: Tau-PET with AV-1451 was performed on 576 cognitively unimpaired (CU) participants aged 50-94 years. The number of CUs with and without abnormal MTL regions and those with or without extra-MTL abnormalities was determined. Left and right regions were compared within each subject.

Results: Of CUs, 58% (334/576) had abnormal tau-PET findings. MTL abnormalities were present in 41% (238/576) of subjects.

Discussion: MTL tau-PET signal is often associated with abnormal extra-MTL tau-PET signal in CU participants and may represent neurofibrillary tangle development that could identify participants most likely to develop AD dementia. Tau-PET signal exclusively outside of the MTL is seen in 17% of CU participants and could be the initial findings in participants in different AD dementia pathways. Significant (P < .001) differences in tau-standardized uptake value ratio between sides were noted in 26 of 41 examined brain regions implicating further study of side-specific deficits.

Keywords: AV-1451; Alzheimer's disease; Cognitively normal; Imaging; Tau-PET.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Bar chart depicting the frequency of extra-MTL tau-PET signal in CN subjects with MTL tau-PET abnormalities. Abbreviations: MTL, medial temporal lobe; CN, cognitively normal.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Bar chart depicting the frequency of extra-MTL tau-PET signal in CN subjects without MTL tau-PET abnormalities. Abbreviations: MTL, medial temporal lobe; CN, cognitively normal.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Percent of tau-PET SUVr values above normal divided by brain region and sorted top to bottom by highest percent in the left hemisphere. Abbreviation: SUVr, standardized uptake value ratios.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Tau-SUVr within-subject differences between the left and right hemispheres separated into brain regions. Positive values indicate that the left hemisphere had greater SUVr uptake. Statistical analysis by Student's paired t-test reveals statistically significant differences between the left and right sides in 26 regions. Abbreviation: SUVr, standardized uptake value ratios.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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