Relevance of PET and MRI brain imaging techniques combined use for the prediction of memory scores in early Alzheimer’s Disease

Details

Supervisors

Ivanoiu, Adrian ; Hanseeuw, Bernard

Faculty

Faculté de psychologie, logopédie, sexologie et des sciences de la famille

Degree label

Master [120] en sciences psychologiques

Abstract

This master’s thesis assesses the respective cross-sectional predictive roles of brain metabolism and brain atrophy, as measured by co-registered brain imaging scans, for memory scores in the framework of normal ageing and early Alzheimer’s Disease. To this end, 29 healthy controls (15 women) and 94 patients (48 women) diagnosed with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) realized series of exams. All went through amyloid β Positron Emission Tomography (PET) to assess their amyloid β load and 18F-FDG PET scans to estimate their brain metabolism. They also undertook anatomic Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) in order to measure cortical thickness and brain volumetry. Finally, they all passed the Free and Cued Selective Reminding Test as a measure of memory. The co-registration procedure was conducted using PetSurfer, part of FreeSurfer software. Seven brain regions involved with memory as well as a control one were chosen to establish the comparison. Results show that metabolism and atrophy play distinct roles in the cross-sectional prediction of memory scores, depending on the region and on the pathophysiological course’s advancement taking place during early Alzheimer’s Disease. Furthermore, while in some regions the predictive power of hypometabolism and atrophy may be partly explained by the global Aβ load, in some others it is not. Further researches are needed to investigate other useful predictors of memory functioning, such as the local amyloid load or potential other factors, like tau tangles.