Human brain function evaluated with rCBF - SPECT Memory and pain related changes and new diagnostic possibilities in Alzheimer

_____________________________________________________ 2 SUMMARY IN SWEDISH _________________________________________ 3 ORIGINAL PAPERS ______________________________________________ 4 ABBREVIATIONS ________________________________________________ 5 INTRODUCTION_________________________________________________ 7 The brain______________________________________________________________ 7 Normal aging versus pathology in Alzheimer’s disease __________________________ 9 Dementia_____________________________________________________________ 10 Pain _________________________________________________________________ 15 Neuroimaging _________________________________________________________ 20 AIMS OF THIS THESIS __________________________________________ 26 MATERIAL AND METHODS _____________________________________ 27 Overview of the studies _________________________________________________ 27 Ethical considerations___________________________________________________ 27 Subjects______________________________________________________________ 27 Image acquisition and processing __________________________________________ 28 Neuroimaging analysis of rCBF-SPECT ____________________________________ 31 Neuropsychological assessment ___________________________________________ 35 RESULTS_______________________________________________________ 37 Study I_______________________________________________________________ 37 Study II ______________________________________________________________ 37 Study III _____________________________________________________________ 38 Study IV _____________________________________________________________ 39 Study V______________________________________________________________ 41 DISCUSSION AND FUTURE PERSPECTIVES ______________________ 43 CONCLUSIONS _________________________________________________ 50 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ________________________________________ 51 REFERENCES __________________________________________________ 52