ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews Positron Emission Tomography (PET) studies of the normal brain as well as Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) in relationship to neuropsychological functions. We will examine a pattern analysis of PET AD scans and demonstrate how these PET AD scans show a characteristic profile in comparison to other types of dementias. Dramatic improvements in our ability to image the human brain in vivo have expanded researchers’ skills in the early diagnosis of AD. One of these techniques, PET, has yielded new significant neurophysiological and cognitive data that shows a distinctive profile for assisting in a diagnosis of AD. PET scanners recently emerged through the integration of several fields of science. Physicists and nuclear engineers developed the essential hardware to measure radioactivity. Physiologists, chemists and statisticians developed models to measure the uptake and decay of radionuclides in brain tissues. Medical doctors and neuropsychologists then developed scanning procedures, experimental design and interpretation of the obtained neurophysiological and neuropsychological data.
