Voxel-based investigations of regional cerebral blood flow abnormalities in Alzheimer's disease using a single-detector SPECT system.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the feasibility of using the Statistical Parametric Mapping (SPM) program for an automated, voxel-by-voxel assessment of regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) deficits in Alzheimer's disease (AD) subjects relative to age-matched controls studied with a conventional, single-detector SPECT system.


METHODS
We used a databank of 99mTc-HMPAO images of 19 patients with a diagnosis of probable AD and 15 elderly healthy volunteers; data were acquired using an Orbiter-Siemens single-detector SPECT system. Using SPM, images were transformed spatially, smoothed (12mm), and the data were compared on a voxel-by-voxel basis with t-tests.


RESULTS
There were significant rCBF reductions in AD patients relative to controls involving regions predicted a priori to be affected in AD, namely the left temporal and parietal neocortices, and the right posterior cingulate gyrus (p<0.05, corrected for multiple comparisons).


CONCLUSIONS
The location of rCBF reductions in AD subjects in our study is consistent with the deficits detected in previous functional imaging studies of AD using higher-resolution devices. This suggests the potential usefulness of using SPM for the analysis of data acquired with single-detector SPECT systems, despite the limited sensitivity and spatial resolution of such equipment.
Duran
Fabio L S
FL
Institute of Psychiatry, São Paulo University, Medical College Hospital, São Paulo, Brazil.
Zampieri
Fernando G
FG
Bottino
Cassio C M
CC
Buchpiguel
Carlos A
CA
Busatto
Geraldo F
GF
D000368:Aged; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001931:Brain Mapping / Q000379:methods*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002560:Cerebrovascular Circulation / Q000502:physiology*; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D019690:Technetium Tc 99m Exametazime; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon / Q000379:methods*