CenTauR: Toward a universal scale and masks for standardizing tau imaging studies

INTRODUCTION: Recently, an increasing number of tau tracers have become available. There is a need to standardize quantitative tau measures across tracers, supporting a universal scale. We developed several cortical tau masks and applied them to generate a tau imaging universal scale. METHOD: 1045 participants underwent tau scans with either 18F-Flortaucipir, 18F-MK6240, 18F-PI2620, 18F-PM-PBB3, 18F-GTP1 or 18F-RO948. The mask was generated from cognitively unimpaired A{beta}- subjects and AD patients with A{beta}+. Four additional regional cortical masks were defined within the constraints of the global mask. A universal scale, the CenTauRz, was constructed. RESULTS: None of the regions known to display off-target signal were included in the masks. The CenTauRz allows robustly discrimination between low and high levels of tau deposits. DISCUSSION: We constructed several tau-specific cortical masks for the AD continuum and a universal standard scale designed to capture the location and degree of abnormality that can be applied across tracers and across centres.