Degenhardt, Elisabeth K.Witte, Michael M.Case, Michael G.Yu, PengHenley, David B.Hochstetler, Helen M.D'Souza, Deborah N.Trzepacz, Paula T.2016-10-062016-10-062016-03Degenhardt, E. K., Witte, M. M., Case, M. G., Yu, P., Henley, D. B., Hochstetler, H. M., ... & Trzepacz, P. T. (2016). Florbetapir F18 PET Amyloid Neuroimaging and Characteristics in Patients With Mild and Moderate Alzheimer Dementia. Psychosomatics, 57(2), 208-216.https://hdl.handle.net/1805/11124Background Clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer disease (AD) is challenging, with a 70.9%–87.3% sensitivity and 44.3%–70.8% specificity, compared with autopsy diagnosis. Florbetapir F18 positron emission tomography (FBP-PET) estimates beta-amyloid plaque density antemortem. Methods Of 2052 patients (≥55 years old) clinically diagnosed with mild or moderate AD dementia from 2 solanezumab clinical trials, 390 opted to participate in a FBP-PET study addendum. We analyzed baseline prerandomization characteristics. Results A total of 22.4% had negative FBP-PET scans, whereas 72.5% of mild and 86.9% of moderate AD patients had positive results. No baseline clinical variable reliably differentiated negative from positive FBP-PET scan groups. Conclusions These data confirm the challenges of correctly diagnosing AD without using biomarkers. FBP-PET can aid AD dementia differential diagnosis by detecting amyloid pathology antemortem, even when the diagnosis of AD is made by expert clinicians.enAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United StatesflorbetapirAlzheimer DementiaArticle