Advances on PET/CT for the diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer's disease
10.13471/j.cnki.j.sun.yat-sen.univ（med.sci）.2025.0508
- VernacularTitle:PET/CT技术在阿尔茨海默病诊疗研究中的进展
- Author:
Wenyue ZHU
1
;
Xiachun LI
1
Author Information
1. Department of Functional Sciences， School of Basic Medicine， China Three Gorges University， Yichang 443002， China
- Publication Type:Review
- Keywords:
PET/CT;
Alzheimer's disease;
tracers;
PET/MR;
early diagnosis and treatment
- From:
Journal of Sun Yat-sen University(Medical Sciences)
2025;46(5):784-793
- CountryChina
- Language:Chinese
-
Abstract:
With the intensification of population aging， the proportion of people with dementia in our country is rising sharply， bringing a heavy economic and caregiving burden to families and society. Alzheimer's disease （AD） is a spectrum of progressive cognitive impairment disorders that onset in old age， characterized by memory decline， reduced attention and executive function， and in the late stages of the disease， it can even progress to dementia， ultimately leading to the loss of self-care abilities and further increasing the pressure on families and society. Patients with Alzheimer's disease （AD） can be in a preclinical stage for decades without obvious clinical cognitive decline， but significant pathological changes have already occurred in the brain， including the aggregation of beta-amyloid （Aβ） to form senile plaques， the hyperphosphorylation and aggregation of tau protein to form neurofibrillary tangles， vascular amyloid deposition， synaptic and neuronal loss， as well as neuroinflammation. This stage represents the best opportunity for early intervention in AD. Accurate diagnosis or prediction of AD risk and implementation of intervention measures can significantly delay or prevent the progression of AD. In recent years， the application of various tracers that track the neuropathological changes of AD in PET/CT has led to significant progress in clinical research on the imaging diagnosis， treatment monitoring， and prognostic prediction of preclinical and early-stage AD. This article will review the application of PET/CT and PET/MR techniques marked with Aβ， tau protein， fluorodeoxyglucose （FDG）， synaptic， and inflammatory tracers in the early diagnosis， differential diagnosis， disease staging， treatment monitoring， and prognostic prediction of AD， and compare the relative utility and limitations of these tracers as biomarkers， providing a basis and reference for clinicians to choose appropriate PET markers in the research of early diagnosis and treatment of preclinical AD and early-stage AD.
