Relation of Beta-amyloid Deposition to Temporal Lobe-focused Dementias

描述（由申请人提供）：如果一种痴呆症可以治疗，而另一种无法治疗，患者和护理人员渴望诊断的确定性，因为获得明确的答案可以改变他们的生命长度和质量。然而，当70岁以上的患者出现额颞叶痴呆的症状——人格改变和行为障碍——以及与阿尔茨海默病相关的早期记忆丧失时，诊断可能仍然难以捉摸，这使得医生、患者和家属不确定适当的行动方案。多伦多大学的临床科学家想要改变这种状况。治疗阿尔茨海默病（AD）的药物可能比治疗额颞叶痴呆（FTD）的药物更早上市。β -淀粉样蛋白放射性示踪剂——一种神经成像技术，可以检测大脑中异常淀粉样蛋白的存在，从而提高诊断的准确性——是近十年来最有希望的发展之一。本研究将使用脑淀粉样PET成像来确定迟发性FTD病例是否具有AD病理。它还将帮助临床医生了解未来抗淀粉样蛋白干预在治疗额颞叶痴呆中的作用。拟议的分析利用了罗特曼研究所（在FTD临床研究方面有良好记录）、成瘾和心理健康中心的老年心理健康项目和PET成像中心的研究人员之间的合作力量。如果获得资助，CAMH将为一半的受试者样本提供扫描，从而增加资助的价值并完成拟议的方案。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): If treatment is available for one dementia and not another, patients and caregivers yearn for diagnostic certainty, because obtaining definitive answers can alter the length and quality of their lives. However, when patients over age 70 present with symptoms of frontotemporal dementia - personality change and behavioral disturbance - along with the early memory loss associated with Alzheimer's Disease, diagnosis can remain elusive, leaving doctors, patients and families uncertain of the appropriate course of action. Clinician-Scientists at the University of Toronto want to change this. Disease-modifying agents for Alzheimer's disease (AD) will likely be available sooner than for those with frontotemporal dementia (FTD). The beta-amyloid radiotracer - a neuroimaging technique that detects the presence of abnormal amyloid collections in the brain and therefore enhances diagnostic assurance - is one of the most promising developments of this decade. This study would use amyloid PET imaging of the brain to determine if cases of late-onset FTD bear AD pathology. It also will help clinicians understand if there is a role for future anti-amyloid interventions in the treatment of frontotemporal dementias. The proposed analysis draws on the strength of collaboration among investigators from the Rotman Research Institute, who have a proven track record in clinical research on FTD, and the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health's Geriatric Mental Health Program and PET Imaging Centre. If funding is received, CAMH will provide scanning for half of the sample of subjects, thus increasing the value of the grant and completing the proposed protocol. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The relevance of this study to public health relates to the increasing proportion of older adults, all of whom carry some level of risk to develop a neurodegenerative dementia late in life. This study using a radiotracer for beta-amyloid will help to determine whether interventions for beta-amyloid related to the most common late-life dementia, Alzheimer's disease, should also be considered relevant for non-Alzheimer's dementias that focus their attack on the same part of the brain. The ability to expeditiously treat dementia early in the course of illness would improve quality of life, not only for patients developing dementia, but also those who suffer psychological stress and exhaustion in caring for them.