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Updated: Aug 14, 2026

Hybrid PET/MRI Imaging of Alzheimer's Disease Based on 18F-AV-1451
Published on: April 18, 2025
Frontal lobe hypometabolism and impaired insight in Alzheimer disease
Dylan G Harwood1, David L Sultzer, Denise Feil
1Neuropsychiatric Institute and Hospital, Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, David Geffen School of Medicine, Univ. of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Objective:
The authors examined the relationship between impaired insight regarding cognitive and functional deficits and frontal cortex hypometabolism in 41 patients with Alzheimer disease (AD).
Methods:
Regional cerebral glucose metabolism was determined with (18F)fluorodeoxyglucose and positron emission tomography. Level of insight was measured with the clinician-rated Neurobehavioral Rating Scale, and severity of global cognitive impairment was determined with the Mini-Mental State Exam.
Results:
Inaccurate insight was correlated with glucose metabolic rate in the right lateral frontal cortex (Brodmann areas 6 and 45, and the lateral aspect of Brodmann areas 8 and 9) after controlling for global cognitive dysfunction.
Conclusions:
The findings from this study help to further elucidate the neurobiological mechanisms underlying impaired insight in AD, indicating a link between this important clinical phenomenon and dysmetabolism in a focal region of the right prefrontal cortex.
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