Binding of [99mTc]TRODAT-1 to dopamine transporters in patients with Parkinson's disease and in healthy volunteers.
[99mTc]TRODAT-1 is a radiolabeled tropane that binds dopamine transporters. The primary goal of this study was to determine whether its regional cerebral distribution could differentiate between patients with Parkinson's disease and healthy human volunteers.


METHODS
The sample consisted of 42 patients with Parkinson's disease, 23 age-matched controls, and 38 healthy adults younger than 40 y old. SPECT scans of the brain were acquired on a triple-head gamma camera 3-4 h after the intravenous injection of 740 MBq (20 mCi) [99mTc]TRODAT-1. Mean counts per pixel were measured manually in subregions of the basal ganglia and normalized to the mean background counts to give specific uptake values ([SUVs] approximately k3/k4). Patient and control groups were also compared with automated statistical parametric mapping techniques. Logistic discriminant analyses were performed to determine the optimum uptake values for differentiating patients from age-matched controls.


RESULTS
Quantitative image analysis showed that the group mean SUVs in patients were less than the mean values in controls for all regions (all Ps < 0.000001). There was overlap in the caudate as well as in the anterior-most portion of the putamen, but not in the posterior putamen, even when the asymptomatic sides of 5 patients with clinically defined hemi-Parkinson's disease were factored in.


CONCLUSIONS
The findings indicate that Parkinson's disease can be detected with [99mTc]TRODAT by simply inspecting the images for uptake in the posterior putamen. Appropriate asymmetries seem to be visible with quantification in patients with clinically defined hemi-Parkinson's disease, even though changes in the putamen contralateral to the clinically unaffected side in these patients appear to precede the development of symptoms.
Mozley
P D
PD
Department of Radiology, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA.
Schneider
J S
JS
Acton
P D
PD
Plössl
K
K
Stern
M B
MB
Siderowf
A
A
Leopold
N A
NA
Li
P Y
PY
Alavi
A
A
Kung
H F
HF
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001921:Brain / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000378:metabolism; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D004298:Dopamine / Q000378:metabolism; D050483:Dopamine Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008297:Male; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins; D026901:Membrane Transport Proteins; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D015609:Organotechnetium Compounds / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000378:metabolism; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D014326:Tropanes / Q000493:pharmacokinetics
D002352:Carrier Proteins; D050483:Dopamine Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins; D026901:Membrane Transport Proteins; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D015609:Organotechnetium Compounds; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D014326:Tropanes; C104196:technetium Tc 99m TRODAT-1; D004298:Dopamine