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Measurement of central µ-opioid receptor binding in vivo with PET and [11C]carfentanil: a test–retest study in healthy subjects

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European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

[11C]Carfentanil has been widely used in positron emission tomography (PET) studies for measuring µ-opioid receptor binding in humans, but the reproducibility of the binding parameter estimates is unknown.

Materials and methods

Eight healthy volunteers were scanned twice during the same day with [11C]carfentanil PET, and binding to receptors was assessed with both reference tissue and arterial plasma input-based models using region of interest (ROI) and voxel-based quantification.

Results

The two-tissue compartmental model distribution volume (VT) was highly reproducible as indicated by low variability (VAR < 6%) and high intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC > 0.93). BPND (BP relative to the nondisplaceable tissue compartment) was also highly reproducible (VAR < 10%, ICC > 0.90) both at ROI- and voxel-level, and reference tissue-based models provided stable estimates after 40 min.

Conclusions

The reproducibility of [11C]carfentanil binding parameter estimates is excellent with outcome measures based on both arterial plasma and reference tissue input, and a scanning time of 40 min appears sufficient.

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Acknowledgements

The staffs of the MRI and PET units at Turku PET Centre are gratefully appreciated.

Disclosures/Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Turku PET Centre, University of Turku and Turku University Central Hospital, Turku, Finland

    Jussi Hirvonen, Sargo Aalto, Nora Hagelberg, Anu Maksimow, Vesa Oikonen, Kjell Någren & Harry Scheinin

  2. Department of Anaesthesiology, Intensive Care, Emergency Care and Pain Medicine, Turku University Central Hospital, Turku, Finland

    Nora Hagelberg & Harry Scheinin

  3. Department of Pharmacology, Drug Development and Therapeutics, University of Turku, Turku, Finland

    Kimmo Ingman

  4. Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, Medical Imaging Centre, Pirkanmaa Hospital District, Tampere, Finland

    Jussi Virkkala

  5. Turku PET Centre, Kiinamyllynkatu 4-8, FIN-20520, Turku, Finland

    Jussi Hirvonen

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  1. Jussi Hirvonen
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  2. Sargo Aalto
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Correspondence to Jussi Hirvonen.

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Hirvonen, J., Aalto, S., Hagelberg, N. et al. Measurement of central µ-opioid receptor binding in vivo with PET and [11C]carfentanil: a test–retest study in healthy subjects. Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging 36, 275–286 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00259-008-0935-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00259-008-0935-6

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