Imperial APC - Version 1.0
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Imperial APC - The Imperial Amyloid PET Cohort Study
IRAS ID
273966
Contact name
Paresh Malhotra
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Imperial College London
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 8 months, 5 days
Research summary
The APC Study is a set of studies funded by the Alzheimer’s Society. This study aims to investigate different aspects of the clinical use of a recently introduced brain scan in Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). At the brain level, Alzheimer’s disease is associated with the abnormal accumulation of two proteins in the brain: amyloid and tau, with amyloid appearing before tau over the course of the disease. The detection of amyloid in the living brain was not possible until recently. Over the last ten years, a new brain scan called amyloid PET has been developed to examine the amount of amyloid in the brain through the injection of a specially designed radioactive tracer that temporarily sticks to amyloid in the brain. When the patient’s symptoms are accompanied by significantly high levels of amyloid in the brain, the diagnosis is likely to be AD.
Recent studies suggest that amyloid PET can have a positive impact on the clinical management of Alzheimer’s Disease, allowing for faster and more accurate diagnosis, especially in those with atypical symptoms and/or earlier age of onset. Nevertheless, its use in the clinical setting is far from being as widespread as other clinical investigations (e.g., MRI).
The Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust (ICHT) has been one of the first clinics to use amyloid PET, being the leading Trust in the UK for its use in clinical practice. Around 400 patients have had this scan at ICHT to date. In this study, we would like to investigate whether amyloid PET is more reliable than the other investigations to detect the cause of cognitive impairment and what is the prognosis of patients with and without amyloid in the brain. Those patients who had or will have a clinical amyloid PET scan at ICHT will be eligible for the present study.
REC name
London - Camden & Kings Cross Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
20/LO/0442
Date of REC Opinion
8 Jun 2020
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion