Maria Vittoria Spampinato MD, Presenter: Nothing to Disclose

Ryan O'neal Parker PhD, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Gayatri Joshi MD, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Jacobo Mintzer, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Our goal was to assess the correlation between gray matter (GM) volume, cerebral metabolic activity, and naming impairment in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) patients with conversion to Alzheimer’s disease (AD).

Thirty-five amnestic MCI subjects (21 males, mean age 72.3) from the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative had documented MCI-to-AD conversion during a five-year longitudinal follow-up. The 30-item Boston Naming Test (BNT) was administered to all subjects 12 months before the diagnosis of AD as part of their longitudinal evaluation. Subjects were divided in two groups: 21 subjects with BNT scores below or equal to the median (low BNT group) and 14 subjects with BNT scores above the median (high BNT group). Brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) obtained one year before the diagnosis of AD and at the time of the diagnosis of AD were available for all subjects. 16F Fluorodeoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scans obtained at the same times were available for 22 subjects (11 low BNT and 11 high BNT subjects). Statistical Parametric Mapping (SPM5) was used to process MRI and PET data. Comparison between longitudinal imaging data was conducted using paired t-tests. Results were considered significant when the p-value was less than 0.05 with False Discovery Rate correction for multiple comparisons.   

In subjects with low BNT scores, we found significant GM volume loss in the bilateral frontal, temporal and insular lobes and no significant changes in cerebral metabolic activity during the 12 months preceding the diagnosis of AD. There were no significant changes in GM volume and cerebral metabolic activity in the high BNT group during the 12 months preceding the conversion to AD.

The accelerated progression of neocortical atrophy in MCI-to-AD converters presenting with naming dysfunction has potentially important implications for therapeutic approaches and prognosis in AD.

Anomia should be included as a covariate in clinical trials targeting patients with MCI and AD.

Spampinato, M, Parker, R, Joshi, G, Mintzer, J, The Neural Correlates of Anomia in the Conversion from Mild Cognitive Impairment to Alzheimers Disease: A Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Fluorodeoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography Study.  Radiological Society of North America 2011 Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting, November 26 - December 2, 2011 ,Chicago IL. http://archive.rsna.org/2011/11013353.html