Florbetapir Regional Distribution in Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy and Alzheimer's Disease: A PET Study.

backgroundSporadic cerebral amyloid angiopathy shows progressive amyloid-β deposition in the wall of small arterioles and capillaries of the leptomeninges and cerebral cortex.

objectiveTo investigate whether amyloid load and distribution, assessed by florbetapir positron emission tomography (PET), differs between patients with probable CAA-related intracerebral hemorrhage (CAA-ICH) and mild cognitive impairment due to Alzheimer's disease (MCI-AD).

methodsWe assessed [18F]florbetapir uptake in 15 patients with probable CAA-ICH and 20 patients with MCI-AD patients. Global and regional florbetapir retention were assessed using standard uptake values ratio (SUVr) in region-based and voxel-wise approaches. Visual reading of florbetapir scans was performed for all participants. Group comparisons were performed using univariate and multivariate analysis.

resultsGlobal florbetapir retention was lower in patients with CAA-ICH than MCI-AD (median SUVr, 1.33 [1.21-1.41] versus 1.44 [1.35-1.66]; p = 0.032). In the region-based analysis, regional florbetapir distribution was similar between the two groups. There was a trend for an increased occipital/global ratio in CAA-ICH patients compared to MCI-AD (p = 0.060). In the voxel-wise approach, two clusters, one in parietal regions and the other in temporal regions, had higher uptake in MCI-AD relative to CAA patients.

conclusionsPatients with CAA-ICH had a lower global florbetapir PET burden than patients with MCI-AD. Relative florbetapir retention in the posterior regions tended to be higher in CAA patients in region-based analysis but was not statistically different between groups. Investigation on differences in amyloid deposits distribution between groups required a fine-grained voxel-wise analysis. In future studies, selective amyloid tracers are needed to differentiate vascular from parenchymal amyloid.