Abstract
Purpose 18F-FP-CIT positron emission tomography (PET) is an effective imaging for dopamine transporters. In usual clinical practice, 18F-FP-CIT PET is analyzed visually or quantified using manual delineation of a volume of interest (VOI) for the striatum. In this study, we suggested and validated two simple quantitative methods based on automatic VOI delineation using statistical probabilistic anatomical mapping (SPAM) and isocontour margin setting. Methods Seventy-five 18F-FP-CIT PET images acquired in routine clinical practice were used for this study. A studyspecific image template was made and the subject images were normalized to the template. Afterwards, uptakes in the striatal regions and cerebellum were quantified using probabilistic VOI based on SPAM. A quantitative parameter, QSPAM, was calculated to simulate binding potential. Additionally, the functional volume of each striatal region and its uptake were measured in automatically delineated VOI using isocontour margin setting. Uptake-volume product (QUVP) was calculated for each striatal region. QSPAM and QUVP were compared with visual grading and the influence of cerebral atrophy on the measurements was tested. Results Image analyses were successful in all the cases. Both the QSPAM and QUVP were significantly different according to visual grading (P<0.001). The agreements of QUVP or QSPAM with visual grading were slight to fair for the caudate nucleus (κ00.421 and 0.291, respectively) and good to perfect to the putamen (κ00.663 and 0.607, respectively). Also, QSPAM and QUVP had a significant correlation with each other (P<0.001). Cerebral atrophy made a significant difference in QSPAM and QUVP of the caudate nuclei regions with decreased 18F-FP-CIT uptake. Conclusion Simple quantitative measurements of QSPAM and QUVP showed acceptable agreement with visual grading. Although QSPAM in some group may be influenced by cerebral atrophy, these simple methods are expected to be effective in the quantitative analysis of 18F-FP-CIT PET in usual clinical practice.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 254-260 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging |
Volume | 46 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2012 Dec |
Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korean government (MEST) (no. 2011K000719)
Keywords
- PET
- Statistical probabilistic anatomical mapping
- Validation
- Volume of interest
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Radiology Nuclear Medicine and imaging