ICAD: Tracer Lights Up Alzheimer's Hot Spots in Brain, Duke University Study

Clinical outcomes in cognitively normal or mildly impaired people were successfully predicted with PET scans using the investigational beta-amyloid tracer florbetapir, a researcher said here. Among individuals participating in a previous trial of the tracer -- now under FDA review for possible approval -- those with strong amyloid plaque signals were far more likely to suffer detectable cognitive decline over the next 18 months than those with weaker signals, according to P. Murali Doraiswamy, MD, of Duke University. Patients with mild cognitive impairment when the scans were taken were also much less likely to be tested as cognitively normal at follow-up when their scans indicated high plaque burdens, Doraiswamy told attendees at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease.