Impact of EEG-vigilance on brain glucose uptake measured with [18F]FDG and PET in patients with depressive episode or mild cognitive impairment

Introduction[18F]fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography ([18F]FDG-PET) is a well-established method for the examination of the cerebral glucose metabolism of patients with affective disorder or memory impairment. An understudied question is how far results are influenced by interindividual differences in central nervous arousal as assessed with electroencephalogram (EEG-vigilance) during the PET recording. Building upon previous neuroimaging studies, we supposed an association between EEG-vigilance and normalized brain [18F]FDG-uptake (nFDGu) as measured by [18F]FDG-PET. For the first time, the present study exploratively investigated this association in a routine diagnostic work-up.Materials and methodsSimultaneous 31-channel EEG and [18F]FDG-PET under resting conditions were acquired from 14 patients with depressive episode or mild cognitive impairment (MCI). EEG-vigilance was automatically classified by using the VIGALL algorithm (Vigilance Algorithm Leipzig). A nonparametric voxelwise simple linear regression with vigilance measure as predictor and nFDGu as criterion was performed using the Statistical nonParametric Mapping toolbox.ResultsThe main finding was a significant negative correlation between vigilance measure and nFDGu in bilateral frontal and temporal regions, bilateral cingulate gyrus and right thalamus with vigilance-related changes of nFDGu between 17.1 and 44.4%.DiscussionSimultaneous EEG and [18F]FDG-PET under resting conditions revealed that brain regions associated with EEG-vigilance partly overlapped with regions of impaired nFDGu in depression and MCI, as reported by previous studies. Vigilance-related changes of nFDGu were about the same magnitude as disease-related metabolic changes in patients with affective disorder or memory impairment as reported in previous studies. Therefore, our data suggest that differences in EEG-vigilance might influence alterations of nFDGu in disorders such as depression or MCI. Whether this possible impact of vigilance on nFDGu should be taken into account during the routine diagnostic application of [18F]FDG-PET has to be explored in future studies with larger patient groups.

Research Highlights► Exploratively, we investigated the association between EEG-vigilance and FDG-PET. ► 14 patients with depressive episode or mild cognitive impairment (MCI) were examined. ► EEG-vigilance and FDG-PET were negatively correlated in frontal and temporal regions. ► Vigilance-related changes were about the same magnitude as disease-related changes. ► EEG-vigilance might influence FDG-PET in disorders such as depression or MCI.