open access
An easy way to increase confidence in beta-amyloid PET evaluation
Affiliations- Department of Nuclear Medicine — PET Centre Na Homolce Hospital, Roentgenova 2, 150 30 Praha, Poland
open access
Abstract
BACKGROUND: In patients with brain atrophy, it is not easy to distinguish pathologic uptake of flutemetamol (FMM) in the gray matter from nonspecific, physiologic uptake in the white matter. In this paper we suggest an easy image processing method.
MATERIAL AND METHODS: The proof-of-concept study involved three patients with mild cognitive impairment and different graphical findings at FMM-PET. Two-phase FMM-PET was acquired; the early phase represented the perfusion of gray matter, while the late phase depicted the white matter and beta-amyloid load in the gray matter. The border of the gray matter was easily extracted from the early-phase images using thresholding and the isocontour “Edges” color table. The late phase was registered with the edge images of the early phase and displayed using alpha-blending.
RESULTS: Early- and late-phase image fusion displayed with appropriate color tables is presented in three different cases to illustrate the added value of the suggested approach.
CONCLUSIONS: Composite late-phase images with enhanced gray matter borders strongly facilitate assessment of beta-amyloid presence in the gray matter. This is especially helpful in patients with brain atrophy.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: In patients with brain atrophy, it is not easy to distinguish pathologic uptake of flutemetamol (FMM) in the gray matter from nonspecific, physiologic uptake in the white matter. In this paper we suggest an easy image processing method.
MATERIAL AND METHODS: The proof-of-concept study involved three patients with mild cognitive impairment and different graphical findings at FMM-PET. Two-phase FMM-PET was acquired; the early phase represented the perfusion of gray matter, while the late phase depicted the white matter and beta-amyloid load in the gray matter. The border of the gray matter was easily extracted from the early-phase images using thresholding and the isocontour “Edges” color table. The late phase was registered with the edge images of the early phase and displayed using alpha-blending.
RESULTS: Early- and late-phase image fusion displayed with appropriate color tables is presented in three different cases to illustrate the added value of the suggested approach.
CONCLUSIONS: Composite late-phase images with enhanced gray matter borders strongly facilitate assessment of beta-amyloid presence in the gray matter. This is especially helpful in patients with brain atrophy.
Keywords
positron-emission tomography, amyloid, brain, dementia, atrophy, flutemetamol
About this articleTitle
An easy way to increase confidence in beta-amyloid PET evaluation
Journal
Issue
Pages
107-109
Published online
2017-05-25
Page views
957
Article views/downloads
1018
DOI
Pubmed
Bibliographic record
Nucl. Med. Rev 2017;20(2):107-109.
Keywords
positron-emission tomography
amyloid
brain
dementia
atrophy
flutemetamol
Authors
Otakar Belohlavek
Monika Jaruskova
References (4)- Blomquist G, Engler H, Nordberg A, et al. Unidirectional influx and net accumulation of PIB. Open Neuroimag J. 2008; 2: 114–125.
- Hsiao IT, Huang CC, Hsieh CJ, et al. Correlation of early-phase 18F-florbetapir (AV-45/Amyvid) PET images to FDG images: preliminary studies. Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging. 2012; 39(4): 613–620.
- Lin KJ, Hsiao IT, Hsu JL, et al. Imaging characteristic of dual-phase (18)F-florbetapir (AV-45/Amyvid) PET for the concomitant detection of perfusion deficits and beta-amyloid deposition in Alzheimer's disease and mild cognitive impairment. Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging. 2016; 43(7): 1304–1314.
- Valentina G, Silvia M, Marco P. Dual-phase amyloid PET: hitting two birds with one stone. Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging. 2016; 43(7): 1300–1303.
