Diagnostic value of blood thiamine metabolites in Alzheimer’s disease examined by (11)C-PiB PET scanning

AIM: We evaluated the diagnostic value of blood thiamine metabolites for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) by using positron emission tomography with (11)C-Pittsburgh compound B ((11)C-PiB PET) scanning. METHODS: Thirty-eight clinically diagnosed AD patients were voluntarily recruited. Blood thiamine metabolites were measured by high-performance liquid chromatography. All the patients received (11)C-PiB PET scanning for the measurement of cerebral amyloid deposition. RESULTS: Thiamine diphosphate (TDP) had 66.7% sensitivity and 80.0% specificity for AD diagnosis, while the γ-value representing the best combination of thiamine metabolites and age had 24.2% sensitivity and 100.0% specificity according to the cut-off value of our previous study. CONCLUSION: Blood TDP but not γ-value exhibited results significant for AD diagnosis.