Home › Research › Mild cognitive impairment
PET staging of amyloidosis using striatum
Hanseeuw BJ, Betensky RA, Mormino EC, Schultz AP, Sepulcre J, Becker JA, Jacobs HIL, Buckley RF et al.. Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association, 2018-05-21
Topic: Amyloid, tau and blood-test diagnosis
Introduction Amyloid positron emission tomography (PET) data are commonly expressed as binary measures of cortical deposition. However, not all individuals with high cortical amyloid will experience rapid cognitive decline. Motivated by postmortem data, we evaluated a three-stage PET classification: low cortical; high cortical, low striatal; and high cortical, high striatal amyloid; hypothesizing this model could better reflect Alzheimer's dementia progression than a model based only on cortical measures. Methods We classified PET data from 1433 participants (646 normal, 574 mild cognitive impairment, and 213 AD), explored the successive involvement of cortex and striatum using 3-year follow-up PET data, and evaluated the associations between PET stages, hippocampal volumes, and cognition. Results Follow-up data indicated that PET detects amyloid first in cortex and then in striatum. Our three-category staging including striatum better predicted hippocampal volumes and subsequent cognition than a three-category staging including only cortical amyloid. Discussion PET can evaluate amyloid expansion from cortex to subcortex. Using striatal signal as a marker of advanced amyloidosis may increase predictive power in Alzheimer's dementia research.
Key findings
- Results Follow-up data indicated that PET detects amyloid first in cortex and then in striatum.
Why it matters
Not everyone with a lot of amyloid in the brain's outer layer (cortex) declines quickly. This study of 1,433 people (646 cognitively normal, 574 with mild cognitive impairment, 213 with Alzheimer's) found on 3-year follow-up PET scans that amyloid showed up first in the cortex and later in a deeper region, the striatum. A three-stage scheme that also counted striatal amyloid predicted hippocampal volume and later cognition better than a three-stage scheme based on cortex alone. The authors say this "may increase predictive power in Alzheimer's dementia research"; it is not a clinical test.
Study details
- Participants1,433
- Evidence strengthLow
How this study scored 57/100
Published in a leading specialty journal. Scored zero for study design, effect reported and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it. We have no data on senior author's track record, so that was left out: it earned 55 of the 96 points we could judge it on, which is 57 out of 100.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 9 / 10 | Tier 2 — leading specialty journal (Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association) |
| Journal's citation record | 2 / 4 | Alzheimer s & Dementia: journal h-index 228 (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 | 1 / 5 | Rated “low” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 2 / 5 | 2018 — within 10 year(s) of the newest study here |
| Sample size | 3 / 4 | 1,433 participants |
| Effect reported | 0 / 3 | No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Studied in people | 3 / 3 | Studied in people (participant count stated) |
| Randomised / blinded | 0 / 2 | No randomisation or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Times cited | 5 / 7 | Cited 131 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10) |
| Citations per year | 3 / 5 | 13.1 citations a year over 10 year(s) since 2018 |
| Impact for its field and year | 4 / 6 | Cited 10.3× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI) |
| Cited by studies here | 2 / 6 | Cited by 8 other studies in this library |
| Still being cited | 2 / 4 | Cited 36 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex) |
| Senior author's track record | — / 4 | Senior author's record not available — left out of this score |
| Institution's track record | 3 / 3 | Harvard University: institution h-index 3,235 (OpenAlex) |
| Multi-centre collaboration | 2 / 3 | OpenAlex lists 8 institution(s) in 3 countries |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 29792874) |
| Free to read | 2 / 2 | Free to read |
| Points | 55 / 96 | Scored on 19 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 55 of the 96 points we could judge it on is 57 out of 100. |
| Total | 57 / 100 | — |
What each of these 20 components measures, and what this score is not →
Read the original
- DOI: 10.1016/j.jalz.2018.04.011
- PubMed: 29792874
- Original source →
- Free full text: Alzheimer s & Dementia →
Full text: free to read — OpenAlex lists this copy as free to read: the link above (checked 6 Feb 1020).
Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris
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's author list ends in “et al.”, so not every author is named. Check the citation against the original before you use it.
APA 7th
Hanseeuw, B. J., Betensky, R. A., Mormino, E. C., Schultz, A. P., Sepulcre, J., Becker, J. A., et al. (2018). PET staging of amyloidosis using striatum. Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jalz.2018.04.011
Vancouver
Hanseeuw BJ, Betensky RA, Mormino EC, Schultz AP, Sepulcre J, Becker JA, et al. PET staging of amyloidosis using striatum. Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association. 2018. doi:10.1016/j.jalz.2018.04.011. PMID: 29792874.
BibTeX
@article{hanseeuw2018-29792874,
author = {Hanseeuw, B. J. and Betensky, R. A. and Mormino, E. C. and Schultz, A. P. and Sepulcre, J. and Becker, J. A. and Jacobs, H. I. L. and Buckley, R. F. and others},
title = {{PET staging of amyloidosis using striatum}},
journal = {Alzheimer's \& dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association},
year = {2018},
doi = {10.1016/j.jalz.2018.04.011},
pmid = {29792874},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jalz.2018.04.011}
}
Studies this one cites
Referenced by this study and also in the alzhub library, so you can read them here. Showing 12 of 20.
Later studies that cite this one
8 studies in the alzhub library list this one in their references.
Related studies in Mild cognitive impairment
Also tagged “classification”
835 studies in the library carry the topic tag “classification”; these are this study's neighbours in a fixed, alphabetical-by-hash tour of them, not the closest in content. All 835 tagged studies.