PET imaging in traumatic brain injury, surgical, and drug abuse patients.

 
   Lead Investigator:    Je Yeong Sone
   Institution      :    NYU
   E-Mail           :    js7690@nyu.edu
   Proposal ID      :    788



   Proposal Description:
   The purpose of our study is to associate TBI exposure, surgical history, and      drug abuse of patients with tau-specific signals in PET imaging compared to       healthy controls and dementia patients. The literature recognizes TBI as a risk   factor of tauopathy and dementia. Although there is an emerging literature on     PET studies that analyze tau pathology and clearance in the brain, almost no      publications exist on PET-analyzed tau pathology in TBI patients. Many TBI        patients require surgical intervention, and studies like Ramlawi et al., 2006     Ann Surg. have shown that perioperative elevation of tau was associated with      worse cognitive outcome. Abuse of illicit drugs such as heroin and opioids was    shown to be a risk factor for TBI and have resulted in elevations of P-tau        levels in mice. But there is a shortage of studies examining surgical             operations and drug abuse with PET imaging. The study???s objective is to see     which regions of the brain have elevated tau-specific PET signals in subjects     with a history of TBI, subjects who have had major surgeries, and subjects with   a history of drug abuse compared to healthy controls and dementia patients.       These comparisons will account for risk factors of TBI and demographic            characteristics of the subjects. The tau-specific PET signals will also be        compared to amyloid PET and glucose PET imaging. These findings will provide      great insight on the in vivo temporal and spatial pathology of tau in TBI,        surgical, and drug abuse patients.