title: Reproducibility and repeatability of 99Tcm-HMPAO rCBF SPET in normal subjects at rest using brain atlas matching.
abstract: The aim of this study was to assess regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in normal subjects at rest using 99Tcm-HMPAO single photon emission tomography (SPET). Analysis of reproducibility and repeatability was performed both before and after normalization of flow data. Six healthy volunteers were examined, three times each, according to a routine rCBF protocol. A computerized brain atlas was used to evaluate flow data in eight selected regions. The overall reproducibility of rCBF was evaluated from two scans performed at an average interval of 3 months. Repeatability was evaluated from two scans, 3 h apart and without re-injection of 99Tcm-HMPAO. For the normalized (relative) flow data, the reproducibility was +/- 1.3% and the repeatability +/- 2.2% (i.e. methodological errors dominate). For the non-normalized flow data, the corresponding values were +/- 14.8% and +/- 5.9%. rCBF SPET with 99Tcm-HMPAO is highly reproducible provided that the flow data are normalized. The variation in flow between individuals at one point in time and 3 months later was less than +/- 5% for all brain regions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hospital Physics, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden. cath@nucmed.ks.se
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Jonsson
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pagani
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Johansson
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Thurfjell
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jacobsson
authors.forename: S A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Larsson
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000465:Algorithms; D001921:Brain / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D002560:Cerebrovascular Circulation / Q000502:physiology*; D015902:Gamma Cameras; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D012016:Reference Values; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012146:Rest / Q000502:physiology; D019690:Technetium Tc 99m Exametazime; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon
chemical_list: D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D019690:Technetium Tc 99m Exametazime