PiB PET Scanning in Speech and Language Based Dementias

Overview

About this study

The study is designed to determine whether there are clinical features that can be used as biomarkers to predict whether underlying Alzheimer's pathology is the cause of a speech and language based dementia. The primary hypothesis is that the proportion of patients who test positive for beta-amyloid deposition will vary across different speech and language based dementias.

Participation eligibility

Participant eligibility includes age, gender, type and stage of disease, and previous treatments or health concerns. Guidelines differ from study to study, and identify who can or cannot participate. There is no guarantee that every individual who qualifies and wants to participate in a trial will be enrolled. Contact the study team to discuss study eligibility and potential participation.

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Over the age of 18
  • Has an informant/study partner who will be able to provide independent evaluation of functioning
  • Speaks English as their primary language (including bilingual patients whose primary language is English)
  • Fulfills diagnostic criteria for PPA (Primary Progressive Aphasia) or Progressive Apraxia of Speech
  • Agrees to and is eligible to undergo MRI and PET scanning
  • If woman of child bearing age, pt must agree to pregnancy test no more than 48 hours before the PET scans

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Any concurrent illnesses that could account for speech and language deficits, such as:
    • traumatic brain injury, strokes and developmental syndromes
    • patients meeting criteria for another neurodegenerative disease (Alzheimer's Disease, Dementia with Lewy Bodies, behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia, progressive supranuclear palsy, corticobasal degeneration)
  • Women who is pregnant or post-partum and breast-feeding
  • Patients for which MRI is contraindicated (metal in head, cardiac pace maker, etc.), if there is severe claustrophobia, if there are conditions that may confound brain imaging studies (e.g. structural abnormalities, including subdural hematoma or intracranial neoplasm), or if they are medically unstable or are on medications that might affect brain structure or metabolism,(e.g. chemotherapy)
  • Patient is mute (secondary to dysarthria only)

Participating Mayo Clinic locations

Study statuses change often. Please contact the study team for the most up-to-date information regarding possible participation.

Mayo Clinic Location Status Contact

Rochester, Minn.

Mayo Clinic principal investigator

Keith Josephs, M.D.

Closed for enrollment

Contact information:

Sarah Boland CCRP

(507) 284-3863

Boland.Sarah@mayo.edu

More information

Publications

Publications are currently not available