Researchers involved in a large, multi-institutional study using positron emission tomography (PET) imaging with the radiotracer fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) were able to classify different types of dementia with very high rates of success, raising hopes that dementia diagnoses may one day be made at earlier stages. "With FDG PET, we were able to develop standardized disease-specific patterns from which we could correctly classify dementia more than 94 percent of the time."
The study, which was reported in the March issue of the Journal of Nuclear Medicine,
The study comprised 548 subjects and is the largest FDG PET study measuring brain metabolism in different dementing disorders to date.
Dementia is a general term for a progressive brain dysfunction that results in the loss of memory and other intellectual abilities serious enough to interfere with daily life.
Society of Nuclear Medicine |
