PET links tau pathology to speech changes in unimpaired patients

In this study, the group culled data from 237 cognitively unimpaired adults enrolled in the Framingham Heart Study (age range, 32-75). Audio recordings of all FHS neuropsychological assessments began in 2005, while a subset of patients in the study underwent structural MRI, amyloid PET, and tau PET imaging. The researchers first analyzed the recordings and quantified patient speech patterns during a story recall task via five markers: utterance time, between-utterance pause time, number of between-utterance pauses, speech rate, and percentage of unique words. They then examined associations between these speech markers and findings on tau PET. According to the analysis, longer and more between-utterance pauses and slower speech rate were associated with increased tau PET signal across the participants’ medial temporal and early neocortical brain regions. Specifically, the strongest associations with between-utterance pause time and number were in the subjects' entorhinal and inferior parietal cortices, which is consistent with hypotheses of early AD progression within the memory system, the researchers noted. “These results suggest that speech patterns during memory recall provide novel information not captured by traditional neuropsychological testing,” the researchers wrote. Ultimately, the study supports evidence that speech changes reflect the development of AD tau pathology even in the absence of overt cognitive impairment, the group wrote. This is promising g...
Source: AuntMinnie.com Headlines - Category: Radiology Authors: Tags: Subspecialties Neuroradiology Source Type: news