Metabolic patterns of 11C-CFT and 18F-FDG PET/CT imaging in tremor and non-tremor Parkinson′s disease

Abstract

Objective To investigate the metabolic patterns of 11C-2-beta-carbomethoxy-3-beta-(4-fluorophenyl)tropane (CFT) and 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET/CT imaging in patients with tremor and non-tremor Parkinson′s disease (PD). Methods From March 2018 to March 2019, 28 PD patients (19 tremor patients: 14 males and 5 females, age: (59.9±11.4) years; 9 non-tremor patients: 3 males and 6 females, age: (62.6±9.0) years) were enrolled. For the two groups, the 11C-CFT uptake values in caudate nucleus, anterior putamen and posterior putamen as well as 18F-FDG uptake values in all brain regions were calculated by regions of interest (ROI) method. Two-sample t test or Mann-Whitney u test were used to analyze the data. Results Caudate nucleus 11C-CFT uptake in PD patients with tremor was higher than that without tremor (3.03±0.51 vs 2.60±0.62; t=2.687, P<0.05). Yet thalamus glucose uptake of non-tremor PD patients showed more active than tremor patients (1.14±0.05 vs 1.10±0.03; t=3.449, P<0.01). Sorted by modified Hoehn-Yahr stage, tremor patients in advanced stage (stage≥2.5) were characterized by glucose uptake increase in the putamen and cerebellum compared with non-tremor advanced group (1.27±0.04 vs 1.21±0.05, 0.94±0.04 vs 0.86±0.08; t values: 2.695 and 2.492, both P<0.05). Metabolic decrease in the premotor areas was observed in tremor patients in advanced stage compared with early stage (1.07±0.02 vs 1.10±0.03; t=2.053, P<0.05). Conclusion 11C-CFT and 18F-FDG PET/CT imaging can indicate different metabolic patterns between tremor and non-tremor PD, thus providing information for clinical practice and differential diagnosis. Key words: Parkinson disease; Tremor; Positron-emission tomography; Tomography, X-ray computed; Tropanes; Deoxyglucose