Utility of Amyloid Imaging in Alzheimer’s Still Uncertain
Pauline Anderson
January 15, 2014
Medscape Medical News
The medical literature provides extremely limited data with which to evaluate the clinical utility of amyloid-beta positive-emission tomography (Aβ PET), a new summary of the evidence on imaging in the diagnostic evaluation of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) concludes.
A positive Aβ PET result “is not diagnostic of AD, nor can the test be used to accurately predict the risk of the timing of progression of mild cognitive impairment,” write the review authors, led by Steven D. Pearson, MD, at the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review, Boston, Massachusetts.
The review, which was part of the background material for the assessment by the Centers for Medicare and Medicare Services (CMS) of the current reimbursement status of imaging scans, was published in the January issue of JAMA Internal Medicine.