title: Validation of quantitative brain dopamine D2 receptor imaging with a conventional single-head SPET camera.
abstract: Phantom measurements were performed with a conventional single-head single-photon emission tomography (SPET) camera in order to validate the relevance of the basal ganglia/frontal cortex iodine-123 iodobenzamide (IBZM) uptake ratios measured in patients. Inside a cylindrical phantom (diameter 22 cm), two cylinders with a diameter of 3.3 cm were inserted. The activity concentrations of the cylinders ranged from 6.0 to 22.6 kBq/ml and the cylinder/background activity ratios varied from 1.4 to 3.8. From reconstructed SPET images the cylinder/background activity ratios were calculated using three different regions of interest (ROIs). A linear relationship between the measured activity ratio and the true activity ratio was obtained. In patient studies, basal ganglia/frontal cortex IBZM uptake ratios determined from the reconstructed slices using attenuation correction prior to reconstruction were 1.30 +/- 0.03 in idiopathic Parkinson's disease (n = 9), 1.33 +/- 0.09 in infantile and juvenile neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis (n = 7) and 1.34 +/- 0.05 in narcolepsy (n = 8). Patients with Huntington's disease had significantly lower ratios (1.09 +/- 0.04, n = 5). The corrected basal ganglia/frontal cortex ratios, determined using linear regression, were about 80% higher. The use of dural-window scatter correction increased the measured ratios by about 10%. Although comprehensive correction methods can further improve the resolution in SPET images, the resolution of the SPET system used by us (1.5-2 cm) will determine what is achievable in basal ganglia D2 receptor imaging.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Chemistry, Helsinki University Central Hospital, Finland.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Nikkinen
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Liewendahl
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Savolainen
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Launes
mesh_terms: D001921:Brain / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D015902:Gamma Cameras; D006801:Humans; D006816:Huntington Disease / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D008961:Models, Structural; D009290:Narcolepsy / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D009472:Neuronal Ceroid-Lipofuscinoses / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D017448:Receptors, Dopamine D2 / Q000032:analysis*; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon
chemical_list: D017448:Receptors, Dopamine D2