Frequency of Frontal Hypometabolism in Autopsy Confirmed AD Subjects

 
   Lead Investigator:    Lindsey Minshew
   Institution      :    University of Utah
   E-Mail           :    yesdnilfields@gmail.com
   Proposal ID      :    211



   Proposal Description:
   The goal of this project is to identify and calculate the frequency of both AD and FTD like patterns of hypometabolism seen on the PET images of subjects with autopsy confirmed diagnosis of AD. We also want to look at at different demographic and clincal data and see if there are correlations between these factors and PET imaging and autopsy results. Our research question is: Do autopsy confirmed AD subjects also exhibit the metabolic patterns of glucose hypometabolism typically seen in FTD subjects? We hypothesize that the FTD like pattern of glucose hypometabolism is uncommon in patients with AD confirmed on autopsy. The outcome of this investigation is significant, because if the results of this study show that the frequency of FTD like patterns of PET in autopsy confirmed AD subjects is low, then this would suggest that our current screening methods used to enroll AD patients in clinical trials is inadvertently leading to the enrollment of FTD patients in these AD clinical trials. Conversely, if this study shows that there is a high percentage of autopsy confirmed AD subjects with FTD like PET images, it may mean that we are inadvertently excluding AD patients from clinical trials, due to suspicion that they have FTD.The results of this study could change how AD subjects are selected to be included in clinical trials. It can help to clarify, whether or not inclusion of subjects clinically diagnosed with AD who have PET with FTD like patterns will significantly affect observed typical outcomes in AD clinical trials.