Relationship between [18F]flortaucipir PET visual patterns and neurodegeneration

The introduction of tau positron emission tomography (PET) ligands has allowed for the in vivo assessment of tau pathology in Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The recent development and FDA approval of [18F]flortaucipir (FTP) reader guidelines has enabled standardized visual assessment of FTP PET scans as showing negative, moderate or advanced AD tau patterns, thereby facilitating implementation of FTP scans in clinical practice. Although various studies have reported associations between regional FTP signal and neurodegeneration, the relationship between the standardized visual FTP AD patterns and markers of neurodegeneration has not yet been studied. This study aims to understand how FTP AD visual patterns relate to markers of neurodegeneration from structural MRI and FDG‐PET scans. Specifically, it focusses on characterizing regional neurodegeneration associated with the moderate AD pattern, both in cognitively normal (CN) and cognitively impaired participants (CI).