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Comparison of different methods of spatial normalization of FDG-PET brain images in the voxel-wise analysis of MCI patients and controls

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Abstract

Objective

One of the most interesting clinical applications of 18F-FDG PET imaging in neurodegenerative pathologies is that of establishing the prognosis of patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), some of whom have a high risk of progressing to Alzheimer’s disease (AD). One method of analyzing these images is to perform statistical parametric mapping (SPM) analysis. Spatial normalization is a critical step in such an analysis. The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of using different methods of spatial normalization on the results of SPM analysis of 18F-FDG PET images by comparing patients with MCI and controls.

Methods

We evaluated the results of three spatial normalization methods in an SPM analysis by comparing patients diagnosed with MCI with a group of control subjects. We tested three methods of spatial normalization: MRI-DARTEL and MRI-SPM8, which combine structural and functional images, and FDG-SPM8, which is based on the functional images only.

Results

The results obtained with the three methods were consistent in terms of the main pattern of functional alterations detected; namely, a bilateral reduction in glucose metabolism in the frontal and parietal cortices in the patient group. However, MRI-SPM8 also revealed differences in the left temporal cortex, and MRI-DARTEL revealed further differences in the left temporal cortex, precuneus, and left posterior cingulate.

Conclusions

The results obtained with MRI-DARTEL were the most consistent with the pattern of changes in AD. When we compared our observations with those of previous reports, MRI-SPM8 and FDG-SPM8 seemed to show an incomplete pattern. Our results suggest that basing the spatial normalization method on functional images only can considerably impair the results of SPM analysis of 18F-FDG PET studies.

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Acknowledgment

This study was supported by the following institutions: Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, AMIT Programa CENIT. M.E. Martino was supported by the Contrato Río Hortega (Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad).

Conflict of interest

None of the authors have conflicts of interest to declare.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Unidad de Medicina y Cirugía Experimental, Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón, Dr. Esquerdo, 46 28007, Madrid, Spain

    María Elena Martino, María Lacalle-Aurioles & Manuel Desco

  2. Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental (CIBERSAM), Madrid, Spain

    María Elena Martino & Verónica García-Vázquez

  3. Servicio de Radiodiagnóstico, Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón, Madrid, Spain

    Juan Guzmán de Villoria

  4. Servicio de Neurología, Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón, Madrid, Spain

    Javier Olazarán & Eloisa Navarro

  5. Unidad de Investigación del Proyecto Alzheimer, Fundación CIEN-Fundación Reina Sofía, Instituto de Salud Carlos III. Centro Alzheimer Fundación Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain

    Isabel Cruz

  6. Servicio de Medicina Nuclear, Hospital Clínico San Carlos, Universidad Complutense, Madrid, Spain

    José Luis Carreras

  7. Departamento de Bioingeniería e Ingeniería Aeroespacial, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Gregorio Marañón, Madrid, Spain

    Manuel Desco

Authors
  1. María Elena Martino
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  2. Juan Guzmán de Villoria
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  3. María Lacalle-Aurioles
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  4. Javier Olazarán
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  5. Isabel Cruz
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  6. Eloisa Navarro
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  7. Verónica García-Vázquez
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  8. José Luis Carreras
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  9. Manuel Desco
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Correspondence to María Elena Martino.

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Martino, M.E., de Villoria, J.G., Lacalle-Aurioles, M. et al. Comparison of different methods of spatial normalization of FDG-PET brain images in the voxel-wise analysis of MCI patients and controls. Ann Nucl Med 27, 600–609 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12149-013-0723-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12149-013-0723-7

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