The role of positron emission tomography imaging of beta-amyloid in patients with Alzheimer's disease.

One of the hallmark pathologies of Alzheimer's disease (AD) is amyloid plaque deposition in the brain. Although the advent of new therapeutic strategies aimed at reducing beta-amyloid burden in the brain is to potentially delay cognitive loss, improved methods for amyloid visualization have become more imperative. Studies so far have shown that positron emission tomography (PET) has produced the greatest strides toward accomplishing this ambitious goal. Several PET amyloid imaging ligands have recently been developed and tested in AD patients. High amyloid content can be detected in vivo by PET in prodromal AD preceding the impairment of functional activity. Hopefully, amyloid imaging may help in the early detection of the disease and can be used for evaluating new drug therapies in AD. This study provides an overview of recent advances in the development of amyloid imaging agents and includes a summary of the clinical significance of amyloid imaging.