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Neurosciences: NeurologyNeurology Posters |
1 Nuclear Medicine; 2 Psychiatry, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany
938
Objectives: To examine the cortical functional representation of visuo-spatial abilities in Alzheimer disease (AD) patients correlating F18-FDG-PET with neuropsychological domains for the assessment of visuo-spatial functioning.
Methods: 32 patients (23f, mean age 74 yrs.) with clinical probable AD (NINCDS-ADRDA criteria) underwent F18-FDG brain PET imaging under resting conditions. Correlations between relative metabolic activities and visuo-spatial measures, assessed by the Consortium to Establish a Registry of Alzheimer's Disease Drawing Test (C-DT) and Rey Osterrieth Complex Figure Drawing Test (RO-DT), were determined using a voxel-based analysis with SPM5.
Results: Compared to 15 healthy controls relative glucose metabolism in AD patients was reduced in bilateral temporal- and parietal association cortex and in posterior cingulate cortex to a varying degree. Impaired performance of the C-DT was correlated (p<0.05) with metabolic impairment in bilateral superior parietal and visual association cortex as well as in right fusiform gyrus. Reduced RO performance was correlated (p<0.005) with metabolic impairment in right prefrontal lobe, in bilateral fusiform and middle temporal gyri and in right inferior temporal gyrus.
Conclusions: Performance in the C-DT was correlated with structures of the dorsal visual stream involved in the processing of localisation information. In contrast, performance in the analytically more complex RO-DT also included areas along the ventral visual stream involved in object recognition, and right prefrontal lobe areas involved in sustaining attention and working memory.
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