Connectional fingerprint of mild cognitive impairment based on FDG-PET and PiB-PET

Connectional fingerprint provides important information to characterize patterns related to mild cognitive impairment (MCI) which is a brain function syndrome involving the onset and evolution of cognitive impairment. Here, we defined connectional fingerprint of normal control (NC) and MCI patients using fludeoxyglucose (FDG)- and Pittsburgh compound B (PiB)-positron emission tomography (PET) to identify the characterized patterns. A connectivity analysis was implemented using whole brain network. Group-wise differences between NC and MCI patients were assessed using betweenness centrality. Lingual L and putamen R showed a significant decrease the value of BC from NC to MCI in FDG-PET. Fusiform also showed a significant decrease in PiB-PET. Finally, ten brain regions, showed a large difference between NC and MCI, were used to characterize the unique patterns in connectional fingerprint. Using connectional fingerprint, this study identified unique patterns differentially affected by MCI progression.