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Sensitivity-Specificity of Tau and Amyloid β Positron Emission Tomography in Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration
Ghirelli A, Tosakulwong N, Weigand SD, Clark HM, Ali F, Botha H, Duffy JR, Utianski RL et al.. Annals of neurology, 2020-09-12
Topic: Brain proteins, microglia and lab models
Objective To examine associations between tau and amyloid β (Aβ) molecular positron emission tomography (PET) and both Alzheimer-related pathology and 4-repeat tau pathology in autopsy-confirmed frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD). Methods Twenty-four patients had [ 18 F]-flortaucipir-PET and died with FTLD (progressive supranuclear palsy [PSP], n = 10; corticobasal degeneration [CBD], n = 10; FTLD-TDP, n = 3; and Pick disease, n = 1). All but 1 had Pittsburgh compound B (PiB)-PET. Braak staging, Aβ plaque and neurofibrillary tangle counts, and semiquantitative tau lesion scores were performed. Flortaucipir standard uptake value ratios (SUVRs) were calculated in a temporal meta region of interest (meta-ROI), entorhinal cortex and cortical/subcortical regions selected to match the tau lesion analysis. Global PiB SUVR was calculated. Autoradiography was performed in 1 PSP patient, with digital pathology used to quantify tau burden. Results Nine cases (37.5%) had Aβ plaques. Global PiB SUVR correlated with Aβ plaque count, with 100% specificity and 50% sensitivity for diffuse plaques. Twenty-one (87.5%) had Braak stages I to IV. Flortaucipir correlated with neurofibrillary tangle counts in entorhinal cortex, but entorhinal and meta-ROI SUVRs were not elevated in Braak IV or primary age-related tauopathy. Flortaucipir uptake patterns differed across FTLD pathologies and could separate PSP and CBD. Flortaucipir correlated with tau lesion score in red nucleus and midbrain tegmentum across patients, but not in cortical or basal ganglia regions. Autoradiography demonstrated minimal uptake of flortaucipir, although flortaucipir correlated with quantitative tau burden across regions. Interpretation Molecular PET shows expected correlations with Alzheimer-related pathology but lacks sensitivity to detect mild Alzheimer pathology in FTLD. Regional flortaucipir uptake was able to separate CBD and PSP. ANN NEUROL 2020;88:1009-1022.
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APA 7th
Ghirelli, A., Tosakulwong, N., Weigand, S. D., Clark, H. M., Ali, F., Botha, H., et al. (2020). Sensitivity-Specificity of Tau and Amyloid β Positron Emission Tomography in Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration. Annals of neurology. https://doi.org/10.1002/ana.25893
Vancouver
Ghirelli A, Tosakulwong N, Weigand SD, Clark HM, Ali F, Botha H, et al. Sensitivity-Specificity of Tau and Amyloid β Positron Emission Tomography in Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration. Annals of neurology. 2020. doi:10.1002/ana.25893. PMID: 32869362.
BibTeX
@article{ghirelli2020-32869362,
author = {Ghirelli, A. and Tosakulwong, N. and Weigand, S. D. and Clark, H. M. and Ali, F. and Botha, H. and Duffy, JR. and Utianski, R. L. and others},
title = {{Sensitivity-Specificity of Tau and Amyloid β Positron Emission Tomography in Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration}},
journal = {Annals of neurology},
year = {2020},
doi = {10.1002/ana.25893},
pmid = {32869362},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1002/ana.25893}
}
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Key findings
- Results Nine cases (37.5%) had Aβ plaques.
- Autoradiography demonstrated minimal uptake of flortaucipir, although flortaucipir correlated with quantitative tau burden across regions.
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Study details
- Effect size37.5%; 87.5%
- Evidence strengthLow
How this study scored 45/100
Published in a leading specialty journal. Scored zero for study design, sample size, studied in people and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it. We have no data on journal's citation record, times cited, citations per year, impact for its field and year, cited by studies here, still being cited, senior author's track record, institution's track record and multi-centre collaboration, so those were left out: it earned 26 of the 58 points we could judge it on, which is 45 out of 100.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 9 / 10 | Tier 2 — leading specialty journal (Annals of neurology) |
| Journal's citation record | — / 4 | No journal record from OpenAlex — left out of this score |
| 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 | 2020 — within 10 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 | 2 / 3 | Effect reported as a number, without an interval or test |
| 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 | — / 7 | No citation count (not found in OpenAlex) — left out of this score |
| Citations per year | — / 5 | No citation count or no year — left out of this score |
| Impact for its field and year | — / 6 | No field-weighted citation impact (OpenAlex has none yet) — left out of this score |
| Cited by studies here | — / 6 | Not yet checked against this library's citation graph — left out of this score |
| Still being cited | — / 4 | No yearly citation counts — left out of this score |
| Senior author's track record | — / 4 | Senior author's record not available — left out of this score |
| Institution's track record | — / 3 | No institution listed in OpenAlex — left out of this score |
| Multi-centre collaboration | — / 3 | Institutions not listed — left out of this score |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 32869362) |
| Free to read | 0 / 2 | Behind a paywall — scores zero |
| Points | 26 / 58 | Scored on 11 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 26 of the 58 points we could judge it on is 45 out of 100. |
| Total | 45 / 100 | — |
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