Non-Alzheimer types of neurodegenerative dementia: clinical and 18F-FDG-PET/CT pictures

Nucl Med Commun. 2014 Nov;35(11):1085-92. doi: 10.1097/MNM.0000000000000191.

Abstract

Primary degenerative dementia syndromes are an increasingly relevant problem worldwide because of the progressive aging of the population. Their diagnosis is often a challenge for clinicians and, even in the best cases, only a possible or probable diagnosis can be reached. Molecular neuroimaging techniques can be very useful in dementia patients, especially for obtaining a diagnosis in the early stage of disease. The most diffuse and widely available nuclear medicine method for neurological studies is F-fluoro-deoxy-glucose (F-FDG)-PET, which allows the quantification of glucose gray matter metabolism and helps visualize typical, adequately specific, patterns for many kinds of degenerative dementia, not only for the well-known and well-studied Alzheimer's disease. This paper aims to describe the clinical and F-FDG-PET profiles of the principal non-Alzheimer type of degenerative dementias.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Dementia / diagnostic imaging*
  • Dementia / metabolism
  • Dementia / physiopathology
  • Fluorodeoxyglucose F18*
  • Functional Neuroimaging
  • Humans
  • Neurodegenerative Diseases / diagnostic imaging*
  • Neurodegenerative Diseases / metabolism
  • Neurodegenerative Diseases / physiopathology
  • Positron-Emission Tomography / methods*
  • Tomography, X-Ray Computed / methods*

Substances

  • Fluorodeoxyglucose F18