Special issues in quantitation of brain receptors and related markers by emission computed tomography

Emission computed tomography provides an opportunity to quantify neurotransmitter-neuroreceptor systems in vivo. In order to do so, very high image quality and quantitative accuracy are required. Quantitation of receptor systems involves considerations of physical effects (such as finite spatial resolution, scatter, and attenuation), instrumentation design (such as spatial sampling), image processing (such as filtering), and data analysis (such as kinetic modeling). Appropriate application of these considerations can lead to useful results, but emerging approaches promise even greater levels of accuracy and precision.