A Deep Learning Model to Predict a Diagnosis of Alzheimer Disease by Using 18F-FDG PET of the Brain

In this study, we aimed to evaluate whether a deep learning algorithm could be trained to predict the final clinical diagnoses in patients who underwent 18F-FDG PET of the brain and, once trained, how the deep learning algorithm compares with the current standard clinical reading methods in differentiation of patients with final diagnoses of AD, MCI, or no evidence of dementia. We hypothesized that the deep learning algorithm could detect features or patterns that are not evident on standard clinical review of images and thereby improve the final diagnostic classification of individuals.

Overall, our study demonstrates that a deep learning algorithm can predict the final diagnosis of AD from 18F-FDG PET imaging studies of the brain with high accuracy and robustness across external test data. Furthermore, this study proposes a working deep learning approaches and a set of convolutional neural network hyperparameters, validated on a public dataset, that can be the groundwork for further model improvement. With further large-scale external validation on multi-institutional data and model calibration, the algorithm may be integrated into clinical workflow and serve as an important decision support tool to aid radiology readers and clinicians with early prediction of AD from 18FFDG PET imaging studies.

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