Gender difference in brain perfusion 99mTc-ECD SPECT in aged healthy volunteers after correction for partial volume effects.
BACKGROUND
Previous reports have yielded controversial results concerning gender differences in regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF). To elucidate this issue, we compared 99mTc ethyl cysteinate dimer single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) images for brain perfusion between aged-matched healthy men and women after correction for partial volume effects (PVEs).


METHODS
Brain perfusion SPECT in the resting state was performed on 40 healthy, right-handed subjects, 20 men and 20 women, with an age range of 58-86 years, who did not differ sociodemographically. PVE correction was performed using grey matter volume measured by magnetic resonance imaging. Statistical parametric mapping was used for the analysis of the adjusted rCBF images of relative flow distribution.


RESULTS
The PVE correction revealed that women had higher rCBF in left inferior frontal gyrus, bilateral middle temporal gyri, and left superior temporal gyrus. Men had higher rCBF in left superior frontal gyrus, right medial frontal gyrus, right superior parietal lobule, right postcentral gyrus, right cerebellum, right middle frontal gyrus, right fusiform gyrus, and right precuneus.


CONCLUSIONS
Significant gender differences in rCBF existed in these healthy volunteers. The PVE correction of SPECT images revealed gender differences that were consistent with the universal findings of better performance on verbal tasks in women and on visuospatial tasks in men.
Li
Zhi-Jie
ZJ
Department of Radiology, National Center Hospital for Mental, Nervous, and Muscular Disorders, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, Tokyo, Japan.
Matsuda
Hiroshi
H
Asada
Takashi
T
Ohnishi
Takashi
T
Kanetaka
Hidekazu
H
Imabayashi
Etsuko
E
Tanaka
Fumiko
F
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D000465:Algorithms; D001921:Brain / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D002560:Cerebrovascular Circulation; D003545:Cysteine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods*; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015609:Organotechnetium Compounds; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012737:Sex Factors; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon / Q000379:methods
D015609:Organotechnetium Compounds; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; C059659:technetium Tc 99m bicisate; D003545:Cysteine