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Amyloid-β Imaging with Pittsburgh Compound B and Florbetapir: Comparing Radiotracers and Quantification Methods
Susan M. Landau, Christopher Breault, Abhinay D. Joshi, Michael J. Pontecorvo, Chester A. Mathis, William J. Jagust, Mark A. Mintun. Journal of Nuclear Medicine, 2012-11-19
Topic: Amyloid, tau and blood-test diagnosis
UNLABELLED: (11)C-Pittsburgh compound B ((11)C-PiB) and (18)F-florbetapir amyloid-β (Aβ) PET radioligands have had a substantial impact on Alzheimer disease research. Although there is evidence that both radioligands bind to fibrillar Aβ in the brain, direct comparisons in the same individuals have not been reported. Here, we evaluated PiB and florbetapir in a retrospective convenience sample of cognitively normal older controls, patients with mild cognitive impairment, and patients with Alzheimer disease from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI). METHODS: From the ADNI database, 32 participants were identified who had undergone at least 1 PiB study and subsequently underwent a florbetapir study approximately 1.5 y after the last PiB study. Cortical PiB and florbetapir retention was quantified using several different methods to determine the effect of preprocessing factors (such as smoothing and reference region selection) and image processing pipelines. RESULTS: There was a strong association between PiB and florbetapir cortical retention ratios (Spearman ρ = 0.86-0.95), and these were slightly lower than cortical retention ratios for consecutive PiB scans (Spearman ρ = 0.96-0.98) made approximately 1.1 y apart. Cortical retention ratios for Aβ-positive subjects tended to be higher for PiB than for florbetapir images, yielding slopes for linear regression of florbetapir against PiB of 0.59-0.64. Associations between consecutive PiB scans and between PiB and florbetapir scans remained strong, regardless of processing methods such as smoothing, spatial normalization to a PET template, and use of reference regions. The PiB-florbetapir association was used to interconvert cutoffs for Aβ positivity and negativity between the 2 radioligands, and these cutoffs were highly consistent in their assignment of Aβ status. CONCLUSION: PiB and florbetapir retention ratios were strongly associated in the same individuals, and this relationship was consistent across several data analysis methods, despite scan-rescan intervals of more than a year. Cutoff thresholds for determining positive or negative Aβ status can be reliably transformed from PiB to florbetapir units or vice versa using a population scanned with both radioligands.
Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris
APA 7th
Landau, S. M., Breault, C., Joshi, A. D., Pontecorvo, M. J., Mathis, C. A., Jagust, W. J., et al. (2012). Amyloid-β Imaging with Pittsburgh Compound B and Florbetapir: Comparing Radiotracers and Quantification Methods. Journal of Nuclear Medicine. https://doi.org/10.2967/jnumed.112.109009
Vancouver
Landau SM, Breault C, Joshi AD, Pontecorvo MJ, Mathis CA, Jagust WJ, et al. Amyloid-β Imaging with Pittsburgh Compound B and Florbetapir: Comparing Radiotracers and Quantification Methods. Journal of Nuclear Medicine. 2012. doi:10.2967/jnumed.112.109009. PMID: 23166389.
BibTeX
@article{landau2012-23166389,
author = {Landau, Susan M. and Breault, Christopher and Joshi, Abhinay D. and Pontecorvo, Michael J. and Mathis, Chester A. and Jagust, William J. and Mintun, Mark A.},
title = {{Amyloid-β Imaging with Pittsburgh Compound B and Florbetapir: Comparing Radiotracers and Quantification Methods}},
journal = {Journal of Nuclear Medicine},
year = {2012},
doi = {10.2967/jnumed.112.109009},
pmid = {23166389},
url = {https://doi.org/10.2967/jnumed.112.109009}
}
Built from the record alzhub holds for this paper, not looked up. Volume, issue and page numbers are not held in the record. The record names 7 authors; APA and Vancouver show the first six, BibTeX and the downloads carry all of them. Check the citation against the original before you use it.
Why it matters
In 32 ADNI participants scanned with both PiB and florbetapir amyloid PET, results from the two tracers were strongly associated across several analysis methods. The authors show that cutoffs for amyloid positive or negative status can be converted between the two tracers.
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How this study scored 52/100
Published in a peer-reviewed journal. Scored zero for study design, sample size, effect reported, studied in people and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it. We have no data on strength of evidence, so that was left out: it earned 49 of the 95 points we could judge it on, which is 52 out of 100.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 7 / 10 | Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (Journal of Nuclear Medicine) |
| Journal's citation record | 2 / 4 | Journal of Nuclear Medicine: journal h-index 230 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29) |
| Study design | 0 / 12 | No study design recorded — scores zero, not guessed (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Strength of evidence | — / 5 | No evidence rating recorded — left out of this score |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 1 / 5 | 2012 — within 20 year(s) of the newest study here |
| Sample size | 0 / 4 | Participant count not stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Effect reported | 0 / 3 | No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Studied in people | 0 / 3 | Not stated whether this was studied in people — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Randomised / blinded | 0 / 2 | No randomisation or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Times cited | 6 / 7 | Cited 466 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10) |
| Citations per year | 4 / 5 | 29.1 citations a year over 16 year(s) since 2012 |
| Impact for its field and year | 4 / 6 | Cited 14.2× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI) |
| Cited by studies here | 0 / 6 | No other study in this library cites it |
| Still being cited | 3 / 4 | Cited 114 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex) |
| Senior author's track record | 4 / 4 | Last-listed author Mark A. Mintun: h-index 131 (OpenAlex, whole career) |
| Institution's track record | 2 / 3 | University of California, Berkeley: institution h-index 2,012 (OpenAlex) |
| Multi-centre collaboration | 2 / 3 | OpenAlex lists 4 institution(s) in 1 country |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 23166389) |
| Free to read | 2 / 2 | Free to read |
| Points | 49 / 95 | Scored on 19 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 49 of the 95 points we could judge it on is 52 out of 100. |
| Total | 52 / 100 | — |
What each of these 20 components measures, and what this score is not →
Read the original
- DOI: 10.2967/jnumed.112.109009
- PubMed: 23166389
- Original source →
- Free full text: Journal of Nuclear Medicine →
Full text: free to read — OpenAlex lists this copy as free to read: the link above (checked 6 Feb 1020).
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