Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease 44 (2015) 815–826 DOI 10.3233/JAD-142229 IOS Press 815 Visual Versus Semi-Quantitative Analysis of 18 F-FDG-PET in Amnestic MCI: An European Alzheimer’s Disease Consortium (EADC) Project Silvia Morbelli a , Andrea Brugnolo b , Irene Bossert a , Ambra Buschiazzo a , Giovanni B. Frisoni c,d , Samantha Galluzzi c , Bart N.M. van Berckel e , Rik Ossenkoppele e , Robert Perneczky f ,g,h , Alexander Drzezga i,1 , Mira Didic j , Eric Guedj k , Gianmario Sambuceti a , Gianluca Bottoni a , Dario Arnaldi b , Agnese Picco b , Fabrizio De Carli l , Marco Pagani m,n and Flavio Nobili b,∗ a Nuclear Medicine, Department of Health Sciences (DISSAL), University of Genoa, IRCCS AOU San Martino–IST, Genoa, Italy b Clinical Neurology, Department of Neuroscience, Rehabilitation, Ophthalmology, Genetics, and Mother-Child health (DINOGMI), University of Genoa, IRCCS AOU San Martino–IST, Genoa, Italy c LENITEM Laboratory of Epidemiology and Neuroimaging-IRCCS S. Giovanni di Dio-FBF, Brescia, Italy d University Hospitals and University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland e Department of Nuclear Medicine & PET Research, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands f Neuroepidemiology and Ageing Research Unit, School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, The Imperial College of Science, Technology, and Medicine, London, UK g West London Cognitive Disorders Treatment and Research Unit, London, UK h Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Technische Universit¨ at, Munich, Germany i Department of Nuclear Medicine, Technische Universit¨ at, Munich, Germany j APHM, CHU Timone, Service de Neurologie et Neuropsychologie, Aix-Marseille University, INSERM U 1106, Marseille, France k APHM, CHU Timone, Service de M´ edecineNucl´ eaire; Aix-Marseille University, CERIMED, INT CNRS UMR7289, Marseille, France l Institute of Bioimaging and Molecular Physiology, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Genoa, Italy m Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Rome, Italy n Department of Nuclear Medicine, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden Accepted 25 September 2014 Abstract. We aimed to investigate the accuracy of FDG-PET to detect the Alzheimer’s disease (AD) brain glucose hypometabolic pattern in 142 patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) and 109 healthy controls. aMCI patients were followed for at least two years or until conversion to dementia. Images were evaluated by means of visual read by either moderately-skilled or expert readers, and by means of a summary metric of AD-like hypometabolism (PALZ score). Seventy-seven patients 1 Current address: Department of Nuclear Medicine, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany. ∗ Correspondence to: Flavio Nobili, MD, Clinical Neurology, Department of Neuroscience (DINOGMI), University of Genoa, IRCCS AOU San Martino-IST, Largo P. Daneo, 3, 16132 Genoa, Italy. Tel.: +390103537568; Fax: +390105556893; E-mail: flaviomariano.nobili@hsanmartino.it. ISSN 1387-2877/15/$35.00 © 2015 – IOS Press and the authors. All rights reserved