Hippocampal subfield imaging and fractional anisotropy show parallel changes in Alzheimer's disease tau progression using simultaneous tau-PET/MRI at 3T

Introduction: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia, characterized primarily by abnormal aggregation of two proteins, tau and amyloid beta. We assessed tau pathology and white matter connectivity changes in subfields of the hippocampus simultaneously in vivo in AD. Methods: Twenty-four subjects were scanned using simultaneous time-of-flight ¹⁸F-PI-2620 tau positron emission tomography/3-Tesla magnetic resonance imaging and automated segmentation. Results: We observed extensive tau elevation in the entorhinal/perirhinal regions, intermediate tau elevation in cornu ammonis 1/subiculum, and an absence of tau elevation in the dentate gyrus, relative to controls. Diffusion tensor imaging showed parahippocampal gyral fractional anisotropy was lower in AD and mild cognitive impairment compared to controls and strongly correlated with early tau accumulation in the entorhinal and perirhinal cortices. Discussion: This study demonstrates the potential for quantifiable patterns of ¹⁸F-PI2620 binding in hippocampus subfields, accompanied by diffusion and volume metrics, to be valuable markers of AD.