Alzheimer's & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer's Association
Volume 4, Issue 4 , Pages 255-264, July 2008

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

  • Giovanni B. Frisoni

      Affiliations

    • IRCCS Centro San Giovanni di Dio Fatebenefratelli, Brescia, Italy
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorresponding author. Tel.: +39-030-3501-361; Fax: +39-030-3501313.
    • ,
  • Wouter J.P. Henneman

      Affiliations

    • Department of Radiology, VU University Medical Centre, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
    • ,
  • Michael W. Weiner

      Affiliations

    • 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
    • ,
  • Philip Scheltens

      Affiliations

    • Department of Neurology and Alzheimer Center, VU University Medical Centre, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
    • ,
  • Bruno Vellas

      Affiliations

    • INSERM U. 558, Gerontopole, Pole Geriatrie, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire, Toulouse, France
    • ,
  • Emma Reynish

      Affiliations

    • INSERM U. 558, Gerontopole, Pole Geriatrie, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire, Toulouse, France
    • Geriatric Medicine, Department of Clinical and Surgical Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
    • ,
  • Jaroslava Hudecova

      Affiliations

    • IRCCS Centro San Giovanni di Dio Fatebenefratelli, Brescia, Italy
    • ,
  • Harald Hampel

      Affiliations

    • 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
    • Department of Psychiatry, Alzheimer Memorial Center, Ludwig-Maximilian University, Munich, Germany
    • ,
  • Katharina Burger

      Affiliations

    • Department of Psychiatry, Alzheimer Memorial Center, Ludwig-Maximilian University, Munich, Germany
    • ,
  • Kaj Blennow

      Affiliations

    • Clinical Neurochemistry Laboratory, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Mölndal, Sweden
    • ,
  • Gunhild Waldemar

      Affiliations

    • Department of Neurology, Rigshospitalet, Section 2082, Copenhagen University Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark
    • ,
  • Peter Johannsen

      Affiliations

    • Department of Neurology, Rigshospitalet, Section 2082, Copenhagen University Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark
    • ,
  • Lars-Olof Wahlund

      Affiliations

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

      Affiliations

    • Ospedale S Giovanni Calibita Fatebenefratelli e AFaR – Associazione Fatebenefratelli per la Ricerca, Roma, Italy
    • ,
  • Paolo M. Rossini

      Affiliations

    • Ospedale S Giovanni Calibita Fatebenefratelli e AFaR – Associazione Fatebenefratelli per la Ricerca, Roma, Italy
    • ,
  • Bengt Winblad

      Affiliations

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

      Affiliations

    • Department of Radiology, VU University Medical Centre, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
    • ,
  • Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative

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

 

PII: S1552-5260(08)00127-1

doi:10.1016/j.jalz.2008.04.009

Alzheimer's & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer's Association
Volume 4, Issue 4 , Pages 255-264, July 2008

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