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American Journal of Alzheimer's Disease and Other Dementias logoLink to American Journal of Alzheimer's Disease and Other Dementias
. 2010 Jun;25(4):324–332. doi: 10.1177/1533317510363468

The Value of PET in Mild Cognitive Impairment, Typical and Atypical/Unclear Dementias: A Retrospective Memory Clinic Study

Robert Laforce Jr 1, James P Buteau 2, Nancy Paquet 3, Louis Verret 4, Michèle Houde 5, Rémi W Bouchard 6
PMCID: PMC10845361  PMID: 20539026

Abstract

This retrospective study examined the role of [18F]fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) in the diagnosis of atypical/unclear dementias in a memory clinic setting. A total of 94 patients with a diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or dementia, who had a PET study within 2 months of their diagnosis, were reevaluated at 5 and 18 months. Results showed that PET was associated with a change in diagnosis in 29% of patients and a 64% increase in the use of cholinesterase inhibitors (ChEIs). PET significantly lowered the number of atypical/unclear diagnoses from 39.4% to 16% and nearly 30% of these were found to have a typical Alzheimer’s disease (AD) pattern of hypometabolism. In conclusion, the addition of PET to the investigation of atypical/unclear cases of dementia helped generating a more accurate diagnosis and initiating earlier treatment. PET was of limited contribution to typical AD and frontotemporal dementia (FTD) cases. This study provides guiding evidence about the true value of PET imaging in the day-to-day challenge of dementia diagnosis.

Keywords: positron emission tomography, Alzheimer’s disease, atypical dementia, memory clinic, mild cognitive impairment, frontotemporal dementia

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Contributor Information

Robert Laforce, Jr, Clinique de Mémoire, Département des Sciences Neurologiques, Centre Hospitalier Affilié Universitaire de Québec, Hôpital de l'Enfant-Jésus, Québec, Canada, robert.laforce-jr.1@ulaval.ca .

James P. Buteau, Clinique de Mémoire, Département des Sciences Neurologiques, Centre Hospitalier Affilié Universitaire de Québec, Hôpital de l'Enfant-Jésus, Québec, Canada.

Nancy Paquet, Service de Médecine Nucléaire, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Sherbrooke, Québec, Canada.

Louis Verret, Clinique de Mémoire, Département des Sciences Neurologiques, Centre Hospitalier Affilié Universitaire de Québec, Hôpital de l'Enfant-Jésus, Québec, Canada.

Michèle Houde, Clinique de Mémoire, Département des Sciences Neurologiques, Centre Hospitalier Affilié Universitaire de Québec, Hôpital de l'Enfant-Jésus, Québec, Canada.

Rémi W. Bouchard, Clinique de Mémoire, Département des Sciences Neurologiques, Centre Hospitalier Affilié Universitaire de Québec, Hôpital de l'Enfant-Jésus, Québec, Canada.

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