Metabolic Characterization of Alzheimer's Disease and Frontotemporal Dementia by 23Na-MRI and FDG-PET

Alzheimer's disease (AD) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD) are the most common forms of neurodegenerative dementia. However, their differential and timely diagnosis can be challenging for clinicians, therefore often closing the door for an early and possibly successful treatment before irreversible cerebral damage occurs. Hence, treatment options often become available only at a late point in time. In Alzheimer's disease, early neuroimaging markers are glucose hypometabolism and Amyloid-/Tau-depositions (PET). Recent findings from sodium magnetic resonance imaging (23Na-MRI) point to brain tissue sodium concentration as a metabolic marker of AD progression. Sodium is crucial for neurotransmission and cellular homeostasis maintained by the cellular Na+/K+-ATPase, depending on Adenosine-Triphosphate as energy source from the mitochondrial respiratory chain, also interacting with tau and amyloid. In this project, we aim to characterize disease-specific metabolic patterns in AD vs. FTD by performing 23Na-MRI in association to FDG-PET to support early positive and differential diagnosis and therapeutic follow-up in both diseases in association to clinical parameters such as CSF/blood markers and neuropsychological assessment. Assessment of 7T MRI including 23Na-MRI, 31P-MRS and 1H-MRI is planned with analysis of results in association with FDG-PET, Amyloid- and Tau-PET, blood and CSF biomarkers as well as neuropsychological and clinical assessment.

Not Yet Recruiting

Trial opening soon.

Get Notified

Key information

Conditions

FTD AD Healthy Controls

Age range

18 year and older

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: Yes

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

Patients with Alzheimer's disease

CDR (Clinical Dementia Rating Scale) = 0.5 or 1
Progressive amnestic syndrome, associated or not with other cognitive impairments
Biological criteria: CSF biomarkers suggestive of AD-continuum (Jack et al., 2018)
Patients with FTD

Modifications of the personality and the social conducts in the foreground (behavioral variant) (Rascovsky et al., 2011)
Primary progressive aphasia (Gorno-Tempini et al., 2011):

Effortful, agrammatic speech plus at least one of: a) impaired grammar/sentence comprehension with relatively preserved single word comprehension, or b) groping, distorted speech production (apraxia of speech)
Semantic language disorders
Compatible brain imaging: profile of atrophy and/or hypometabolism on FDG-PET (or hypoperfusion on SPECT) compatible with the diagnosis of FTD and/or absence of atypia
Biological criteria: No AD profile on CSF biomarkers if available; if CSF not available: diagnosis based on clinical criteria left to the judgment of the investigators
Cognitively healthy controls

Absence of known psychiatric disorder
Score on the Folstein Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE > or = 27) with no more than one word missing
Normal neuropsychological assessment for the age and the educational level, particularly Scores on the Free and Cued Selective Reminding Test (FCSRT) of >25 for free recall and >44 for total recall.

Exclusion criteria

Subject with an evolving and/or badly checked psychiatric pathology (left to the judgment of the investigator).
Subject with a grave, severe or unstable pathology (left to the judgment of the investigator) the nature of which can interfere with the variables of evaluation.
Epileptic subjects, with poor tolerance to MRI (1.5T, 3T or 7T),
Subject presenting contraindications to the MRI such as Pacemaker or stimulating neurosensory or implantable defibrillator, cochlear implants, eye or cerebral ferromagnetic foreign bodies close to nervous structures, metallic prostheses, neurosurgical ventriculoperitoneal shunt valves
Known or supposed histories (< or = 5 years) of severe alcoholism or misuse of drugs
Vascular, inflammatory or expansive, lesion visible on the MRI which can interfere with the criteria of diagnosis.
No health insurance
Agitation of the patient: not cooperative or agitated patients, claustrophobic subjects

Treatment and study plan

Sodium MRI

Diagnostic Test

Sodium MRI is used to detect early metabolic alterations in neurodegenerative diseases

Primary outcomes

Tissue sodium concentration

Time frame: Within 4 months after inclusion

Metabolic and structural analysis of brain characteristics by 23Na- MRI (tissue sodium concentration - TSC) at 7T MRI
Glucose metabolism

Time frame: Within 4 months after inclusion

FDG-PET (SUVR)

Study contacts

Contact information is provided by the study sponsor or research team.

Julien Lagarde, MD, PhD

CONTACT

[email protected]

145656173 ext. +33

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

Centre Hospitalier St Anne

Other

Registry information

Acronym: MetaAD_FTD

Important dates

Study start: 2025
Primary completion: 2028
Study completion: 2029
First posted: Aug 3, 2025
Registry last updated: Aug 3, 2025

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

Published trials that share one or more normalized conditions with this study.

Active, Not Recruiting