Marco Pagani
Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, CNR, Rome, Italy
Title: Metabolic and cognitive patterns in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
Biography
Biography: Marco Pagani
Abstract
Functional and structural neuroimaging have highlighted in ALS the diffusion of anatomical and functional lesions beyond the classic motor areas. The value of 18F-FDG-PET as biomarker is currently gaining more importance and its possible role in supporting ALS diagnosis has been proposed. 1. Recent studies in large cohorts of ALS patients reported a very high discriminant value of 18F-FDGPET showing a clear pattern of hypometabolism in frontal and occipital cortex and hypermetabolism in midbrain being the latter the neurobiological correlate of diffuse subcortical gliosis. 2. Moreover spatially distinct networks identified ALS with an accuracy of 99%. 3. In a recent investigation we demonstrated a continuum of frontal lobe metabolic impairment reflecting the clinical and anatomic continuum ranging from pure ALS, through ALS with intermediate cognitive deficits, to ALS associated with frontal lobe dementia. 4. The finding that patients with intermediate cognitive impairment display a characteristic metabolic pattern suggests to investigate ALS by functional neuroimaging along with neuropsychological testing to disclose the early metabolic signature of a possible cognitive impairment.