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BACKGROUND: Amyloid positron emission tomography (PET) has become an important tool to identify amyloid-β (Aβ) pathology in Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients. Here, we determined the diagnostic value of the amyloid PET tracer (18)Fflutemetamol in relation to Aβ pathology at autopsy. METHODS: (18)Fflutemetamol PET was carried out in a cohort of 68 patients included in a (18)Fflutemetamol amyloid PET imaging end-of-life study (GE067-007). At autopsy, AD pathology was determined and Aβ plaque pathology was classified into phases of its regional distribution (0-5). RESULTS: (18)Fflutemetamol PET was universally positive in cases with advanced stage postmortem Aβ pathology (Aβ phases 4 and 5). Negative amyloid PET was universally observed in nondemented or non-AD dementia cases with initial Aβ phases 1 and 2, whereas 33.3% of the phase 3 cases were positive. CONCLUSIONS: (18)Fflutemetamol amyloid PET detects primarily advanced stages of Aβ pathology in preclinical and symptomatic AD cases.
Thal et al. (Wed,) studied this question.
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