title: Optimisation of statistical methodologies for a better diagnosis of neurological and psychiatric disorders by means of SPECT.
abstract: In the last years there has been a wide consensus on the importance of brain imaging in assessing neurodegenerative and psychiatric disorders. Different techniques for functional and anatomical examination are currently clinically implemented in neurology and psychiatry to improve sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of the diagnosis of various diseases. In addition, the increasing life expectancy in the Western world raises the social importance and the economical impact of age-related neurodegenerative disorders since the incidence of Alzheimer disease and Parkinson disease is higher in the elderly. An early diagnosis of neuro-psychiatric diseases and the assessment of "natural" changes of regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) distribution during normal aging are hence of utmost importance. In the recent past brain disorders have extensively been investigated by means of optimised nuclear medicine techniques, instruments and algorithms. Diagnosis can be better achieved by identifying those structures in which CBF or metabolism deviate from normality resulting in significant changes as compared to a reference database. In the present paper we present some studies investigating, by means of recently implemented diagnostic tools, patients bearer of various neuro-psychiatric disorders. The improved nuclear medicine techniques and instrumentation, the state-of-the-art software for brain imaging standardisation and the use of sophisticated multivariate data analysis are extensively reviewed.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, CNR, Rome, Italy. marcopagani@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pagani
authors.forename: Dario
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Salmaso
authors.forename: Katalin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Borbely
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D001921:Brain / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D001931:Brain Mapping / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods*; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D019636:Neurodegenerative Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D012984:Software; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon / Q000379:methods*