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Reproducibility of automated simplified voxel-based analysis of PET amyloid ligand [11C]PIB uptake using 30-min scanning data

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

Abstract

Purpose

Positron emission tomography (PET) with 11C-labelled Pittsburgh compound B ([11C]PIB) enables the quantitation of β-amyloid accumulation in the brain of patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Voxel-based image analysis techniques conducted in a standard brain space provide an objective, rapid and fully automated method to analyze [11C]PIB PET data. The purpose of this study was to evaluate both region- and voxel-level reproducibility of automated and simplified [11C]PIB quantitation when using only 30 min of imaging data.

Methods

Six AD patients and four healthy controls were scanned twice with an average interval of 6 weeks. To evaluate the feasibility of short scanning (convenient for AD patients), [11C]PIB uptake was quantitated using 30 min of imaging data (60 to 90 min after tracer injection) for region-to-cerebellum ratio calculations. To evaluate the reproducibility, a test-retest design was used to derive absolute variability (VAR) estimates and intraclass correlation coefficients at both region-of-interest (ROI) and voxel level.

Results

The reproducibility both at the region level (VAR 0.9–5.5%) and at the voxel level (VAR 4.2–6.4%) was good to excellent. Based on the variability estimates obtained, power calculations indicated that 90% power to obtain statistically significant difference can be achieved using a sample size of five subjects per group when a 15% change from baseline (increase or decrease) in [11C]PIB accumulation in the frontal cortex is anticipated in one group compared to no change in another group.

Conclusion

Our results showed that an automated analysis method based on an efficient scanning protocol provides reproducible results for [11C]PIB uptake and appears suitable for PET studies aiming at the quantitation of amyloid accumulation in the brain of AD patients for the evaluation of progression and treatment effects.

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Acknowledgments

The assistance of the personnel of Turku PET Centre and CRST is gratefully acknowledged. This study was financially supported by grants from the Academy of Finland (project # 205954), the Sigrid Jusélius Foundation and Turku University Hospital (EVO).

Conflicts of Interest

Marita Kailajärvi works currently for Turku Imanet, GE Healthcare. The other authors have no conflicts of interest.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

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

    Sargo Aalto, Noora M. Scheinin, Nina M. Kemppainen, Kjell Någren & Juha O. Rinne

  2. Department of Psychology, Åbo Akademi University, Turku, Finland

    Sargo Aalto

  3. Department of Neurology, Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland

    Nina M. Kemppainen

  4. Department of Pharmacology and Clinical Research Services Turku (CRST), University of Turku, Turku, Finland

    Marita Kailajärvi & Mika Scheinin

  5. Turku Imanet, GE Healthcare, Turku, Finland

    Marita Kailajärvi

  6. 4-Pharma Ltd, Turku, Finland

    Mika Leinonen

  7. Turku PET Centre, University of Turku, P.O. Box 52, FI-20521, Turku, Finland

    Sargo Aalto

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  1. Sargo Aalto
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  2. Noora M. Scheinin
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  3. Nina M. Kemppainen
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  5. Marita Kailajärvi
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  6. Mika Leinonen
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  7. Mika Scheinin
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  8. Juha O. Rinne
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Correspondence to Sargo Aalto.

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Aalto, S., Scheinin, N.M., Kemppainen, N.M. et al. Reproducibility of automated simplified voxel-based analysis of PET amyloid ligand [11C]PIB uptake using 30-min scanning data. Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging 36, 1651–1660 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00259-009-1174-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00259-009-1174-1

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