Appearance modeling of 11C PiB PET images: Characterizing amyloid deposition in Alzheimer's disease, mild cognitive impairment and healthy aging

beta-amyloid (A beta) deposition is one of the neuropathological hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease (AD), A beta burden can be quantified using C-11 PiB PET. Neuropathological studies have shown that the initial plaques are located in the temporal and orbitofrontal cortices, extending later to the cingulate, frontal and parietal cortices (Braak and Braak, 1997). Previous studies have shown an overlap in C-11 PiB PET retention between AD, mild cognitive impairment (MCI) patients and normal elderly control (NC) participants. It has also been shown that there is a relationship between A beta deposition and memory impairment in MCI patients