A simple algorithm for subregional striatal uptake analysis with partial volume correction in dopaminergic PET...

Area of Science:

• Neuroimaging
• Nuclear Medicine
• Dopaminergic System Imaging

Background:

• Quantitative analysis of nigrostriatal dopamine function using PET is crucial for diagnosing Parkinson's disease (PD).
• Partial volume effect (PVE) in PET imaging leads to underestimation of radioactivity concentration in small brain structures like the striatum.
• Subregional analysis of striatal uptake can improve diagnostic accuracy but is affected by PVE.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose and evaluate a simple algorithm for partial volume correction (PVC) in subregional analysis of striatal uptake in dopaminergic PET imaging.
• To assess the impact of PVC on quantitative measurements of dopamine function.
• To improve the diagnostic performance of PET imaging for neurodegenerative diseases.

Main Methods:

• Developed a PVC algorithm utilizing recovery coefficients (RC) derived from traditional and large volume of interest (VOI) analyses.
• Applied the PVC algorithm to clinical studies (11 PD patients, 6 healthy controls) and numerical phantom simulations.
• Calculated striatal-to-occipital ratio (SOR) with and without PVC for the entire striatum and its subregions.

Main Results:

• PVC significantly increased SOR values in all striatal subregions in clinical studies.
• PVC improved the correlation between SOR values and clinical disease severity ratings in PD patients.
• PVC drastically reduced the average absolute percentage error of SOR estimates from over 20% to around 1-2% in both healthy and neurodegenerative simulations.

Conclusions:

• A simple PVC algorithm for subregional analysis of striatal uptake in dopaminergic PET imaging was successfully implemented.
• The proposed PVC algorithm provides accurate SOR measurements and enhances the diagnostic utility of PET imaging.
• This method improves the relationship between quantitative PET measures and clinical disease severity in Parkinson's disease.