Demonstration of decreased - Posterior cingulate perfusion in mild Alzheimer's disease by means of H₂¹⁵O positron emission tomography

Although decreased posterior cingulate metabolism in Alzheimer's disease (AD) has been previously reported, there have been no reports on posterior cingulate perfusion. In this study we evaluated posterior cingulate perfusion as a relative value using statistical parametric maps (SPMs) and as an absolute value using conventional region of interest (ROI) settings. Twenty-eight subjects, including 14 patients with mild AD (mean age: 66.4 ± 12.1 years) and 14 normal controls (65.9 ± 7.3 years) were studied. Regional cerebral blood flow (CBF) was measured with H₂¹⁵O and positron emission tomography (PET). In the SPM analysis, the left posterior cingulate and left parietotemporal CBFs were significantly decreased in the patients with mild AD (P < 0.001). At a lower statistical threshold (P < 0.05), the right posterior cingulate and right parietotemporal CBFs were also significantly decreased in the AD patients. In the ROI studies, the left parietal and posterior cingulate CBFs in the patients with mild AD were significantly lower than those of the normal controls by analysis of variance and post-hoc Scheffe's test (P < 0.001). We conclude that posterior cingulate perfusion is decreased in mild AD, reflecting the pathological changes and metabolic reduction in the posterior cingulate gyrus that have previously been reported to occur in mild AD.