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The relation between tau, amyloid and cognition has yet to be fully defined. Using flortaucipir (18F-AV-1451) PET tau imaging in patients with varying amyloid and cognitive status, Pontecorvo et al. suggest that development of tau beyond the mesial temporal lobe is associated with, and may be dependent on, amyloid accumulation.

The objectives of this study were to examine the effective dose range and the test-retest reliability of florbetapir F 18 using, first, visual assessment by independent raters masked to clinical information and, second, semiautomated quantitative measures of cortical target area to cerebellum standardized uptake value ratios (SUVr) as primary outcome measures. Visual ratings of PET image quality and tracer retention or b-amyloid (Ab) binding expressed as SUVrs were compared after intravenous administration of either 111 MBq (3 mCi) or 370 MBq (10 mCi) of florbetapir F 18 in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) (n 5 9) and younger healthy controls (YHCs) (n 5 11). In a separate set of subjects (AD, n 5 10; YHCs, n 5 10), test-retest reliability was evaluated by comparing intrasubject visual read ratings and SUVrs for 2 PET images acquired within 4 wk of each other. Results: There were no meaningful differences between the 111-MBq (3-mCi) and 370-MBq (10-mCi) dose in the visual rating or SUVr. The difference in the visual quality across 111 and 370 MBq showed a trend toward lower image quality, but no statistical significance was achieved (t test; t 1 5 21.617, P 5 0.12) in this relatively small sample of subjects. At both dose levels, visual ratings of amyloid burden identified 100% of AD subjects as Ab-positive and 100% of YHCs as Ab-negative. Mean intrasubject test-retest variability for cortical average SUVrs with the cerebellum as a reference over the 50-to 70-min period was 2.4% 6 1.41% for AD subjects and 1.5% 6 0.84% for controls. The overall SUVr test-retest correlation coefficient was 0.99. The overall k-statistic for test-retest agreement for Ab classification of the masked reads was 0.89 (95% confidence interval, 0.69-1.0). Conclusion: Florbetapir F 18 appears to have a wide effective dose range and a high testretest reliability for both quantitative (SUVr) values and visual assessment of the ligand. These imaging performance properties provide important technical information on the use of florbetapir F 18 and PET to detect cerebral amyloid aggregates.

Using flortaucipir, Pontecorvo et al. reveal an increase in cortical tau over 18 months in Aβ+ but not Aβ- subjects, and an association between baseline tau and the magnitude of changes in tau and cognitive performance. The abundance and distribution of tau may influence both tau spreading and cognitive decline.

Positron emission tomography (PET) may increase the diagnostic accuracy and confirm the underlying neuropathologic changes of Alzheimer disease (AD). OBJECTIVE To determine the accuracy of antemortem [ 18 F]flortaucipir PET images for predicting the presence of AD-type tau pathology at autopsy. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS This diagnostic study (A16 primary cohort) was conducted from October 2015 to June 2018 at 28 study sites (27 in US sites and 1 in Australia). Individuals with a terminal illness who were older than 50 years and had a projected life expectancy of less than 6 months were enrolled. All participants underwent [ 18 F]flortaucipir PET imaging, and scans were interpreted by 5 independent nuclear medicine physicians or radiologists. Supplemental autopsy [ 18 F]flortaucipir images and pathological samples were also collected from 16 historically collected cases. A second study (FR01 validation study) was conducted from March 26 to April 26, 2019, in which 5 new readers assessed the original PET images for comparison to autopsy. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES [ 18 F]flortaucipir PET images were visually assessed and compared with immunohistochemical tau pathology. An AD tau pattern of flortaucipir retention was assessed for correspondence with a postmortem B3-level (Braak stage V or VI) pathological pattern of tau accumulation and to the presence of amyloid-β plaques sufficient to meet the criteria for high levels of AD neuropathological change. Success was defined as having at least 3 of the 5 readers above the lower bounds of the 95% CI for both sensitivity and specificity of 50% or greater. RESULTS A total of 156 patients were enrolled in the A16 study and underwent [ 18 F]flortaucipir PET imaging. Of these, 73 died during the study, and valid autopsies were performed for 67 of these patients. Three autopsies were evaluated as test cases and removed from the primary cohort (n = 64). Of the 64 primary cohort patients, 34 (53%) were women and 62 (97%) were white; mean (SD) age was 82.5 (9.6) years; and 49 (77%) had dementia, 1 (2%) had mild cognitive impairment, and 14 (22%) had normal cognition. Prespecified success criteria were met for the A16 primary cohort. The flortaucipir PET scans predicted a B3 level of tau pathology, with sensitivity ranging from 92.3% (95% CI, 79.7%-97.3%) to 100.0% (95% CI, 91.0%-100.0%) and specificity ranging from 52.0% (95% CI, 33.5%-70.0%) to 92.0% (95% CI, 75.0%-97.8%). A high level of AD neuropathological change was predicted with sensitivity of 94.7% (95% CI, 82.7%-98.5%) to 100.0% (95% CI, 90.8%-100.0%) and specificity of 50.0% (95% CI, 32.1%-67.9%) to 92.3% (95% CI, 75.9%-97.9%). The FR01 validation study also met prespecified success criteria. Addition of the supplemental autopsy data set and 3 test cases, which comprised a total of 82 patients and autopsies for both the A16 and FR01 studies, resulted in improved specificity and comparable overall accuracy. Among the 156 enrolled participants, 14 (9%) experienced at least 1 treatment-emergent adverse event. CONCL...

Aims: To evaluate the impact of amyloid PET imaging on diagnosis and patient management in a multicenter, randomized, controlled study. Methods: Physicians identified patients seeking a diagnosis for mild cognitive impairment or dementia, possibly due to Alzheimer disease (AD), and recorded a working diagnosis and a management plan. The patients underwent florbetapir PET scanning and were randomized to either immediate or delayed (1-year) feedback regarding amyloid status. At the 3-month visit, the physician updated the diagnosis and recorded a summary of the actual patient management since the post-scan visit. The study examined the impact of immediate versus delayed feedback on patient diagnosis/management at 3 and 12 months. Results: A total of 618 subjects were randomized (1:1) to immediate or delayed feedback arms, and 602 subjects completed the 3-month primary endpoint visit. A higher proportion of patients in the immediate feedback arm showed a change in diagnosis compared to the controls (32.6 vs. 6.4%; p = 0.0001). Similarly, a higher proportion of patients receiving immediate feedback had a change in management plan (68 vs. 55.5%; p < 0.002), mainly driven by changes in AD medication. Specifically, acetylcholinesterase inhibitors were prescribed to 67% of the amyloid-positive and 27% of the amyloid-negative subjects in the information group compared with 56 and 43%, respectively, in the control group (p < 0.0001). These between-group differences persisted until the 12-month visit. Conclusion: Knowledge of the amyloid status affects the diagnosis and alters patient management.

Background: Published appropriate use criteria (AUC) describe patients for whom amyloid positron emission tomography (PET) might be most useful. This study compared the impact of amyloid PET on diagnosis and management in subjects likely to either meet or not meet AUC. Methods: Physicians provided a provisional diagnosis and management plan for patients presenting with cognitive decline before and after amyloid PET imaging with florbetapir F 18. Participants were classified as AUC-like or not, based on the prescan diagnosis and demographic features. Results: In all, 125 of 229 participants (55%) were classified as AUC-like. Sixty-two percent of the AUC-like subjects had a change in diagnosis after scanning compared with 45% of the non-AUC subjects (p = 0.011). Both groups demonstrated high rates of change in their management plans after scanning (88.0% for AUC-like cases, 85.6% for non-AUC cases). Conclusions: The impact of amyloid imaging on diagnosis and planned management was maintained and, if anything, amplified in AUC-like patients.

BackgroundBiomarkers based on the underlying pathology of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Dementia with Lewy Bodies (DLB) have the potential to improve diagnosis and understanding of the substrate for cognitive impairment in these disorders. The objective of this study was to compare the patterns of amyloid and dopamine PET imaging in patients with AD, DLB and Parkinson’s disease (PD) using the amyloid imaging agent florbetapir F 18 and 18F-AV-133 (florbenazine), a marker for vesicular monamine type 2 transporters (VMAT2).MethodsPatients with DLB and AD, Parkinson’s disease (PD) and healthy controls (HC) were recruited for this study. On separate days, subjects received intravenous injections of florbetapir, and florbenazine. Amyloid burden and VMAT2 density were assessed quantitatively and by binary clinical interpretation. Imaging results for both tracers were compared across the four individual diagnostic groups and for combined groups based on underlying pathology (AD/DLB vs. PD/HC for amyloid burden and PD/DLB vs. AD/HC for VMAT binding) and correlated with measures of cognition and parkinsonism.Results11 DLB, 10 AD, 5 PD, and 5 controls participated in the study. Amyloid binding was significantly higher in the combined AD/DLB patient group (n = 21) compared to the PD/HC groups (n = 10, mean SUVr: 1.42 vs. 1.07; p = 0.0006). VMAT2 density was significantly lower in the PD/DLB group (n = 16) compared to the AD/ HC group (n = 15; 1.83 vs. 2.97; p < 0.0001). Within the DLB group, there was a significant correlation between cognitive performance and striatal florbenazine binding (r = 0.73; p = 0.011).ConclusionsThe results of this study show significant differences in both florbetapir and florbenazine imaging that are consistent with expected pathology. In addition, VMAT density correlated significantly with cognitive impairment in DLB patients (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00857506, registered March 5, 2009).