Three-dimensional display of surface cortical perfusion by SPECT: application in assessing Alzheimer's disease.
To better understand cortical perfusion, we developed a method for a three-dimensional display technique with 99mTc-hexamethylpropyleneamine oxime (HMPAO) SPECT.


METHODS
Twelve patients with higher cortical dysfunction due to Alzheimer's disease and 18 age-matched controls were examined. Data acquisition was performed after intravenous injection of 740 MBq of 99mTc-HMPAO. After reconstructing the transaxial images, the three-dimensional images were obtained by modified volume rendering, where the surfaces were displayed in the corresponding colors as the maximum cortical value within a depth of 2 cm.


RESULTS
In the control studies, almost all surface cortices were over 60% of the maximum cerebellar value. In Alzheimer's disease patients, areas of perfusion below 60% were detected in the temporo-parietal lesions and frontal lobe lesions in 6 of 12. These findings correlated with the neurological dysfunction.


CONCLUSIONS
This method provides realistic three-dimensional information about surface cortical perfusion, which was found to be useful in clinical investigations of higher cortical dysfunction due to degenerative or cerebrovascular diseases.
Hashikawa
K
K
Department of Nuclear Medicine, Osaka University Medical School, Suita, Japan.
Matsumoto
M
M
Moriwaki
H
H
Oku
N
N
Okazaki
Y
Y
Seike
Y
Y
Uehara
T
T
Tanabe
H
H
Ohie
Y
Y
Kamada
T
T
D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D001921:Brain / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D002560:Cerebrovascular Circulation / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015609:Organotechnetium Compounds; D010091:Oximes; D019690:Technetium Tc 99m Exametazime; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon / Q000379:methods*
D015609:Organotechnetium Compounds; D010091:Oximes; D019690:Technetium Tc 99m Exametazime