Browsing by Author "D'Souza, Deborah N."

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    Florbetapir F18 PET Amyloid Neuroimaging and Characteristics in Patients With Mild and Moderate Alzheimer Dementia
    (Elsevier, 2016-03) Degenhardt, Elisabeth K.; Witte, Michael M.; Case, Michael G.; Yu, Peng; Henley, David B.; Hochstetler, Helen M.; D'Souza, Deborah N.; Trzepacz, Paula T.; Department of Psychiatry, IU School of Medicine
    Background 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.