Demonstration of decreased posterior cingulate perfusion in mild Alzheimer's disease by means of H2 15O positron emission tomography

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Abstract
Although decreased posterior cingulate metabolism in Alzheimer's disease (AD) has been previously reported, there have been no reports on posterior cingulate perfusion. In this study we evaluated posterior cingulate perfusion as a relative value using statistical parametric maps (SPMs) and as an absolute value using conventional region of interest (ROI) settings. Twenty-eight subjects, including 14 patients with mild AD (mean age: 66.4±12.1 years) and 14 normal controls (65.9±7.3 years) were studied. Regional Cerebral blood flow (CBF) was measured with H2 15O and positron emission tomography (PET). In the SPM analysis, the left posterior cingulate and left parietotemporal CBFs were significantly decreased in the patients with mild AD (PPP<0.001). We conclude that posterior cingulate perfusion is decreased in mild AD, reflecting the pathological changes and metabolic reduction in the posterior cingulate gyrus that have previously been reported to occur in mild AD.