Fifty Percent Reduced-Dose Cerebral CT Perfusion Imaging of Alzheimer's Disease: Regional Blood Flow Abnormalities

To evaluate the value of 50% reduced-dose cerebral computed tomography (CT)perfusion imaging (CTPI) to show the perfusion abnormalities in Alzheimer's disease (AD), as an attempt to develop a new imaging protocol with lower radiation dose to track the correlation of AD with regional blood flow abnormalities. A total of 52 patients with AD were assigned to the AD group and 28 healthy volunteers served as the control group. All participants were given a 50% reduced-dose cerebral CTPI (current was reduced from 160 to 80 mA) test by a multislice spiral CT scanner. Perfusion parameters of the bilateral frontal cortex, temporal cortex, hippocampus, and basal ganglia were measured, including the cerebral blood volume (CBV), cerebral blood flow (CBF), mean transit time (MTT), and time to peak (TTP). Both the CBV and CBF values of the measured regions were significantly higher in the healthy control group than in the AD group (P < .05), while the MTT and TTP values of these cerebral areas were significantly lower in the healthy control group than in the AD group (P < .05). Four perfusion parameters, namely the MTT of the left frontal cortex, right temporal cortex, right basal ganglia, and right hippocampus, had the greatest sensitivity and a striking correlation with the incidence of AD. The blood flow per unit of time in the regions of interest was significantly lower in the AD group, which provides new evidence for the existence of microcirculation disturbance and ischemia in AD. The 50% reduced-dose cerebral CTPI scan is valuable to show the regional perfusion abnormalities in the patients with AD.