Association Between Brain Functional Failure and Dementia Severity in Alzheimer's Disease: Resting Versus Stimulation PET Study

• Published in: The American journal of psychiatry Vol. 156; no. 3; pp. 470 - 473
• Main Authors: Pietrini, Pietro, Furey, Maura L., Alexander, Gene E., Mentis, Marc J., Dani, Alessio, Guazzelli, Mario, Rapoport, Stanley I., Schapiro, Mark B.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Psychiatric Publishing 01.03.1999; American Psychiatric Association
• Subjects: Acoustic Stimulation; Aged; Alzheimer Disease - diagnosis; Alzheimer Disease - diagnostic imaging; Alzheimer Disease - physiopathology; Alzheimer's disease; Auditory Cortex - metabolism; Biological and medical sciences; Brain - diagnostic imaging; Brain - metabolism; Brain - physiopathology; Cerebral glucose; Degenerative and inherited degenerative diseases of the nervous system. Leukodystrophies. Prion diseases; Dementia; Elderly people; Female; Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; Glucose - metabolism; Humans; Indicators; Male; Medical sciences; Metabolism; Neurology; Parietal Lobe - metabolism; Photic Stimulation; Positron emission tomography; Psychiatric Status Rating Scales - statistics & numerical data; Psychiatry; Severity of Illness Index; Tomography, Emission-Computed - methods; Visual Cortex - metabolism; Radionuclide study; Human; Nervous system diseases; Alzheimer disease; Central nervous system; Stimulation; Glucose; Metabolism; Cerebral disorder; Rest; Visual stimulus; Acoustic stimulus; Central nervous system disease; Degenerative disease; Severity score; Diagnosis; Measurement method; Elderly; Comparative study; Brain (vertebrata); Positron; Emission tomography
• ISSN: 0002-953X; 1535-7228
• DOI: 10.1176/ajp.156.3.470

OBJECTIVE: This study tested the hypothesis that regional cerebral glucose metabolism during neuronal activation is a more sensitive index of neuronal dysfunction and clinical severity in Alzheimer's disease than is glucose metabolism at rest. METHOD: The subjects were 15 Alzheimer's disease patients with a wide range of Mattis Dementia Rating Scale scores (23-128). By using positron emission tomography, absolute glucose metabolism was measured in the parietal, occipital (visual areas), and temporal (auditory areas) cortical regions during rest (eyes ears covered) and audiovisual stimulation. RESULTS: In the parietal cortex, glucose metabolism correlated with dementia severity in both conditions. In contrast, in the relatively preserved visual and auditory cortical regions, glucose metabolism predicted dementia severity during stimulation but not at rest. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that regional cerebral glucose metabolism during stimulation is a more sensitive index of the functional metabolic failure of neuronal systems than is metabolism at rest. (Am J Psychiatry 1999; 156:470-473)