The pilot European Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative of the European Alzheimer's Disease Consortium

Abstract

Background

In North America, the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) has established a platform to track the brain changes of Alzheimer's disease. A pilot study has been carried out in Europe to test the feasibility of the adoption of the ADNI platform (pilot E-ADNI).

Methods

Seven academic sites of the European Alzheimer's Disease Consortium (EADC) enrolled 19 patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), 22 with AD, and 18 older healthy persons by using the ADNI clinical and neuropsychological battery. ADNI compliant magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans, cerebrospinal fluid, and blood samples were shipped to central repositories. Medial temporal atrophy (MTA) and white matter hyperintensities (WMH) were assessed by a single rater by using visual rating scales.

Results

Recruitment rate was 3.5 subjects per month per site. The cognitive, behavioral, and neuropsychological features of the European subjects were very similar to their U.S. counterparts. Three-dimensional T1-weighted MRI sequences were successfully performed on all subjects, and cerebrospinal fluid samples were obtained from 77%, 68%, and 83% of AD patients, MCI patients, and controls, respectively. Mean MTA score showed a significant increase from controls (left, right: 0.4, 0.3) to MCI patients (0.9, 0.8) to AD patients (2.3, 2.0), whereas mean WMH score did not differ among the three diagnostic groups (between 0.7 and 0.9). The distribution of both MRI markers was comparable to matched US-ADNI subjects.

Conclusions

Academic EADC centers can adopt the ADNI platform to enroll MCI and AD patients and older controls with global cognitive and structural imaging features remarkably similar to those of the US-ADNI.

Keywords: Alzheimer's disease, Mild cognitive impairment, Imaging, CSF, ADNI, EADC

a IRCCS Centro San Giovanni di Dio Fatebenefratelli, Brescia, Italy

b Department of Radiology, VU University Medical Centre, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

c Center for Imaging of Neurodegenerative Diseases, Veterans Administration Medical Center and Departments of Radiology, Medicine, Psychiatry, and Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA

d Department of Neurology and Alzheimer Center, VU University Medical Centre, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

e INSERM U. 558, Gerontopole, Pole Geriatrie, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire, Toulouse, France

f Geriatric Medicine, Department of Clinical and Surgical Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

g Discipline of Psychiatry, School of Medicine and Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience, Trinity College Dublin, Trinity Centre for Health Sciences, The Adelaide and Meath Hospital Incorporating The National Children's Hospital, Dublin, Ireland

h Department of Psychiatry, Alzheimer Memorial Center, Ludwig-Maximilian University, Munich, Germany

i Clinical Neurochemistry Laboratory, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Mölndal, Sweden

j Department of Neurology, Rigshospitalet, Section 2082, Copenhagen University Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark

k Alzheimer Research Center and Division of Clinical Geriatrics, Department of Neurobiology Caring Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden

l Ospedale S Giovanni Calibita Fatebenefratelli e AFaR – Associazione Fatebenefratelli per la Ricerca, Roma, Italy

Corresponding author. Tel.: +39-030-3501-361; Fax: +39-030-3501313.

PII: S1552-5260(08)00127-1

doi:10.1016/j.jalz.2008.04.009

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