Reduced retention of Pittsburgh compound B in white matter lesions.

Publication Type Academic Article
Authors Glodzik L, Rusinek H, Li J, Zhou C, Tsui W, Mosconi L, Li Y, Osorio R, Williams S, Randall C, Spector N, McHugh P, Murray J, Pirraglia E, Vallabhajolusa S, de Leon M
Journal Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging
Volume 42
Issue 1
Pagination 97-102
Date Published 10/21/2014
ISSN 1619-7089
Keywords Aniline Compounds, Brain, Plaque, Amyloid, Radiopharmaceuticals, Thiazoles, White Matter
Abstract PURPOSE: One of the interesting features of the amyloid tracer Pittsburgh compound B (PiB) is that it generates a signal in the white matter (WM) in both healthy subjects and cognitively impaired individuals. This characteristic gave rise to the possibility that PiB could be used to trace WM pathology. In a group of cognitively healthy elderly we examined PiB retention in normal-appearing WM (NAWM) and WM lesions (WML), one of the most common brain pathologies in aging. METHODS: We segmented WML and NAWM on fluid attenuation inversion recovery (FLAIR) images of 73 subjects (age 61.9 ± 10.0, 71 % women). PiB PET images were corrected for partial volume effects and coregistered to FLAIR images and WM masks. WML and NAWM PiB signals were then extracted. RESULTS: PiB retention in WML was lower than in NAWM (p < 0.001, 14.6 % reduction). This was true both for periventricular WML (p < 0.001, 17.8 % reduction) and deep WML (p = 0.001, 7.5 % reduction). CONCLUSION: PiB binding in WM is influenced by the presence of WML, which lower the signal. Our findings add to the growing evidence that PiB can depict WM pathology and should prompt further investigations into PiB binding targets in WM.
DOI 10.1007/s00259-014-2897-1
PubMed ID 25331458
PubMed Central ID PMC4415610
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