Clinical significance of FP-CIT dual time point PET imaging in idiopathic Parkinson's disease

Objectives The purpose of this study is to investigate the diagnostic value of dual time point F-18 FP-CIT PET imaging in idiopathic Parkinson’s disease (PD).

Methods Twenty four patients with PD (mean age 69.6) and 18 healthy people (mean age 70.26) underwent two sequential PET/CT scans (dual time point imaging) at 90 and 210 minutes after F-18 FP-CIT injection. Tracer activity of region of interest was measured in the caudate, putamen and a reference region in the brain from both time points. The outcome parameter was the striatooccipital ratio (SOR). Normal SOR values were obtained in the control group. The percent change in tracer activity between 90 and 210 minutes (Δ%SOR) images was calculated. The SOR values and Δ%SOR were compared between the patients and healthy control group.

Results The SOR values for the caudate, anterior & posterior putamen at both 90 and 210 images were significantly reduced in the patients with PD. The lowest P value was obtained for the anterior & posterior putamen (p<0.001) in both time points. There were significant difference of Δ%SOR for anterior and posterior putamen in the two groups (p=0.01).

Conclusions F-18 FP-CIT PET scans at 90 and 210 minutes are both able to diagnose PD. So 90 minute image only is sufficient for diagnosis of PD

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SOR of FP-CIT PET/CT in patients affected by Parkinson's disease and healthy subjects

SOR: striatooccipital uptake ratio, PD: idiopathic Parkinson’s disease