Advanced tau PET quantification for the evaluation of Alzheimer's disease and primary age-related tauopathy

Abstract

The emergence of tau PET radiotracers has allowed the in-vivo evaluation of pathological tau accumulation in the brain. However, quantification of tau PET scans is still hampered by important technical challenges that limit its applicability. In the first part of this thesis, we address the technical impact of off- target binding and the benefits of partial volume correction on the accuracy of tau PET quantification in cross-sectional and longitudinal studies. In the second part, we use the knowledge generated to study the pathological progression of PART, a neuropathological entity characterized by the presence of tau deposits in the medial temporal lobe in the absence of Aβ pathology, and show that it follows a separate, more benign trajectory to that of individuals in the Alzheimer's disease continuum.