Diagnostic utility of 18F-Fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) in asymptomatic subjects at increased risk for Alzheimer's disease

Purpose: To assess the clinical utility of 18F-Fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) for detection of early signs of neurodegeneration in conditions of increased risk for Alzheimer's disease (AD) as defined by: subjective cognitive decline (SCD), evidence of cerebral amyloid-pathology, apolipoprotein E (APOE) ε4-positive genotype, or autosomal dominant forms of AD (ADAD) in asymptomatic stages.

Methods: A comprehensive literature search was conducted using the PICO model to extract evidence from relevant studies. An expert panel then voted using the Delphi method on three different diagnostic scenarios.

Results: The level of empirical study evidence for the use of FDG-PET to detect meaningful early signs of neurodegeneration was considered to be poor for ADAD and lacking for SCD and asymptomatic persons at risk, based on APOE ε4-positive genotype or cerebral amyloid pathology.

Consequently, and consistent with current diagnostic criteria, panelists decided not to recommend routine clinical use of FDG-PET in these situations and to currently mainly reserve it for research purposes.

Conclusion: Currently, there is limited evidence on which to base recommendations regarding the clinical routine use of FDG-PET to detect diagnostically meaningful early signs of neurodegeneration in asymptomatic subjects with ADAD, with APOE ε4-positive genotype, or with cerebral amyloid pathology, and in subjects with SCD.

Future prospective studies are warranted and in part already ongoing, aiming to assess the added value of FDG-PET in this context beyond research applications.

CITATION  Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging. 2018 Jul;45(9):1487-1496. doi: 10.1007/s00259-018-4032-1. Epub 2018 May 13