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Evaluation of semi-quantitative method for quantification of dopamine transporter in human PET study with 18F-FE-PE2I

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Abstract

Objectives

Positron emission tomography (PET) with 18F-FE-PE2I is useful for investigating the function of dopamine transporter, and kinetics of 18F-FE-PE2I could be described by standard two-tissue compartment model (2CM) using plasma input function. In this study, we investigated the feasibility of semi-quantitative methods for estimating binding potential (BPND) and transporter occupancy to shorten the scan period and to reduce the effect of statistical noise on quantitative outcomes using computer simulation and human PET studies with 18F-FE-PE2I.

Methods

In the simulations, time-activity curves (TACs) for the putamen with a wide range of BPND were generated. In these TACs, BPNDs were estimated by standardized uptake value ratio (SUVR) using various integration intervals and the simplified reference tissue model (SRTM) with the cerebellum as reference region, and reduction of BPND assuming transporter occupancy by antipsychotics was calculated from BPND obtained from TACs with various BPND values. These estimates were evaluated by comparison with those of 2CM. In human studies with normal volunteers, BPNDs were estimated in the caudate and putamen using SUVR and SRTM with the cerebellar reference region, and compared with BPND by standard 2CM.

Results

In the simulations, BPND estimated by SUVR with late time frames and SRTM showed linear correlation with those by 2CM, although the estimates by SUVR were overestimated and affected by the cerebral blood flow as BPND became higher. As for transporter occupancy, SRTM showed higher linearity with 2CM and less effect of statistical noise than the SUVR method. In human studies, BPND by SRTM and SUVR with late time frames showed good correlation with BPND by 2CM.

Conclusions

Although SRTM is more reliable than the SUVR method for BPND and occupancy estimation, SUVR using late time frames has the potential to provide practical indices of BPND and occupancy with a shorter scan period.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the staff of the clinical research support section, the clinical neuroimaging team, and the radiopharmaceutical production team at the molecular imaging center, National Institute of Radiological Sciences for their assistance in conducting the PET studies.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Molecular Imaging Center, National Institute of Radiological Sciences, 4-9-1 Anagawa, Inage-ku, Chiba, 263-8555, Japan

    Yoko Ikoma, Takeshi Sasaki, Yasuyuki Kimura, Chie Seki, Tetsuya Suhara & Hiroshi Ito

  2. Department of Neuropsychiatry, Nippon Medical School, 1-1-5 Sendagi, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-8602, Japan

    Yoshiro Okubo

  3. Advanced Clinical Research Center, Fukushima Medical University, 1 Hikariga-oka, Fukushima, 960-1295, Japan

    Hiroshi Ito

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  1. Yoko Ikoma
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  2. Takeshi Sasaki
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  3. Yasuyuki Kimura
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Correspondence to Yoko Ikoma.

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Ikoma, Y., Sasaki, T., Kimura, Y. et al. Evaluation of semi-quantitative method for quantification of dopamine transporter in human PET study with 18F-FE-PE2I. Ann Nucl Med 29, 697–708 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12149-015-0993-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12149-015-0993-3

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