Summary:The effect of piracetam (a putative enhancer of cerebral metabolism) on regional CMRalu was studied by positron emission tomography of 2[18Fl-fluoro-2-deoxY-D-glucose in nine patients with Alzheimer's dis ease, and in seven cases with multiinfarct dementia or unclassified dementia. In Alzheimer's disease, i. v. ad ministration of piracetam, 6 g b.i.d. for 2 weeks, signifi cantly improved rCMRalu in most cortical areas, whereas no effect on CMRalu of the drug was observed in the mul tiinfarct dementia/unclassified dementia groups. These

In a preliminary study of 8 patients with probable Alzheimer''s disease (AD), the effect of phosphatidyl-serine (PS; 500 mg daily for 3 weeks) on brain glucose metabolism was studied using positron emission tomography (PET) of fluor-18-deoxyglucose. In all cases, pretreatment PET studies showed the metabolic pattern typical for AD, with predominant decreases in the parieto-occipito-temporal and frontal association cortex and less involvement of primary cortical areas and subcortical structures. Global metabolic rate increased by 14.8% following treatment. A repeated-measures ANOVA demonstrated significant increases (p < 0.01) of glucose metabolism in defined cortical and subcortical structures ranging up to 20.3% in basal ganglia/thalamus and 19.3% in visual cortex. Metabolism was also increased in areas most involved in AD (13.5–16%). Independent from these regional differences, an inverse correlation was observed between metabolic values and changes during the treatment period. A significant change of MMS scores or daily life activity, however, could not be observed during the 3 weeks of treatment. This shown metabolic effect of PS encourages long-term clinical trials on larger patient populations in which the effect of an increment of glucose metabolism on cognitive, neuropsychological and daily life performance can be additionally evaluated.

In 20 patients with ischemic cerebrovascular disease, classic migraine, or angiomas, we compared paired dynamic positron emission tomographic measurements of regional cerebral blood flow using both [ 1989;20:1174-1181)

At present, positron emission tomography (PET) is the only technology affording the quantitative three-dimensional imaging of various aspects of brain function.

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