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Clinical Studies of Cerebral Blood Flow in Alzheimer's Disease
Author(s) -
JAGUST WILLIAM J.,
EBERLING JAMIE L.,
REED BRUCE R.,
MATHIS CHESTER A.,
BUDINGER THOMAS F.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
annals of the new york academy of sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.712
H-Index - 248
eISSN - 1749-6632
pISSN - 0077-8923
DOI - 10.1111/j.1749-6632.1997.tb48477.x
Subject(s) - perfusion , cerebral blood flow , positron emission tomography , frontal lobe , alzheimer's disease , temporal lobe , blood flow , perfusion scanning , medicine , temporal cortex , cerebral perfusion pressure , emission computed tomography , posterior parietal cortex , nuclear medicine , pathology , neuroscience , psychology , disease , epilepsy
Studies of Alzheimer's disease using single‐photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and positron emission tomography (PET) have found reductions in blood flow and glucose metabolism in temporal and parietal cortex. In 50 AD patients who underwent neuropsychological testing and SPECT perfusion imaging, we found significant correlations between perfusion and performance on the Mini‐Mental Status Examination in the frontal and parietal lobes. In addition. specific correlations between perfusion in the frontal lobes and performance on tests of frontal lobe ability were noted. These findings, while suggesting the importance of perfusion measures in determining clinical features of the disease, do not clearly define perfusion changes as primary, since similar findings have been seen when metabolism is studied. In a separate group of 5 AD patients and 16 controls, we used PET with the perfusion tracer HIPDM and examined cerebrovascular reactivity to carbon dioxide inhalation. We found that in multiple brain regions, including the temporal lobes, AD patients showed robust and significant increases in perfusion in response to carbon dioxide that did not differ from the response seen in the controls. Taken together, these results show that while perfusion changes are important in AD, they are not clearly either primary or limiting.