Covered in this course is a review of the clinical and pathophysiological criteria in diagnosing Alzheimer’s dementia. The concept of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and its relation to Alzhemiemer’s disease will be presented. The role of FDG PET as well as a discussion of new beta amyloid tracers in the evaluation of MCI and Alzheimer’s disease will be explained as well as the tenets and goals of the Imaging Dementia Evidence for Amyloid Scanning (IDEAS) investigation. The presentation will conclude with an introduction to potential new imaging agents and future directions.
OBJECTIVES
Upon completion of the presentation and with a minimum of 80% proficiency, each attendee will be able to:
- Understand the clinical criteria used for determining dementia and MCI as well as the pathogenesis and pathophysiology
- Show understanding of the role of FDG PET in the evaluation of MCI and dementias and how various patterns of hypometabolism can help determine the etiology of a dementia when clinical parameters are inconclusive
- Have working knowledge of current state of the art agents used to image amyloid and the objectives of the IDEAS study
- Know some of the recent developments in tau imaging
- Recognize some of the potential future imaging agents being investigated
OUTLINE
- Introduction
- Diagnostic criteria for Alzheimer’s disease
- Proposed classification system for Alzheimer’s disease
- NINCDS-ADRDA criteria
- Pathophysiological process
- Mild cognitive impairment
- Pathogenesis and pathophysiology
- Proposed cause for beta amyloid formation
- Proposed cause for neurofibrillary tangle formation
- Proposed role of microglia in disease process
- FDG PET and the role in dementia imaging
- Hypometabolic patterns in MCI/Alheimer’s
- Posterior cingulate gyrus and precuneus
- Comparison of metabolic patterns in other dementias
- Amyloid imaging
- Introduction of PiB
- New amyloid agents
- Image interpretation standards and requirements
- IDEAS study
- Future directions
