Positron Emission Tomography rCBF Research Articles

X-ray angiography perfusion imaging with an intra-arterial injection: comparative study with 15O-gas/water positron emission tomography

BackgroundX-ray angiography perfusion (XAP) is a perfusion imaging technique based on conventional DSA.ObjectiveIn this study, we aimed to validate parameters derived from XAP by comparing them with 15O-gas/water positron emission...

Sequential neural changes during motor learning in schizophrenia

Positron emission tomography (PET) was used to investigate differences in neural plasticity associated with learning a unique motor task in patients with schizophrenia and healthy volunteers. Working with a robotic manipulandum, subjects learned reaching movements in a force field. Visual cues were provided to guide the reaching movements. PET rCBF measures were acquired while participants learned the motor skill over successive runs. The groups did not differ in behavioral performance but did differ in their rCBF activity patterns. Healthy volunteers displayed blood flow increases in primary motor cortex and supplementary motor area with motor learning. The patients with schizophrenia displayed an increase in the primary visual cortex with motor learning. Changes in these regions were positively correlated with changes in each group's motor accuracy, respectively. This is the first study to employ a unique arm-reaching motor learning test to assess neural plasticity during multiple phases of motor learning in patients with schizophrenia. The patients may have an inability to rapidly tune motor cortical neural populations to a preferred direction. The visual system, however, appears to be highly compensated in schizophrenia and the inability to rapidly modulate the motor cortex may be substantially corrected by the schizophrenic group's visuomotor adaptations.

Human Cerebral Activation during Steady-State Visual-Evoked Responses

Flicker stimuli of variable frequency (2-90 Hz) elicit a steady-state visual-evoked response (SSVER) in the electroencephalogram (EEG) with the same frequency as the stimulus. In humans, the amplitude of this response peaks at approximately 15 Hz, decreasing at higher stimulation frequencies. It was not known whether this peak response corresponds to increased synaptic activity in the visual cortex or to other mechanisms [for instance, the temporal coherence (phase summation) of evoked responses]. We studied the SSVER in 16 normal volunteers by means of visual stimulation at 14 different frequencies (from 5 to 60 Hz) while recording the EEG. In nine subjects of the group, we measured regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) with positron emission tomography (PET)-H2(15)O at rest and during visual stimulation at five different frequencies: 5, 10, 15, 25, and 40 Hz. We confirmed that the amplitude of the SSVER in occipital regions peaks at 15 Hz stimulation. Applying to the PET rCBF data a contrast weighted by the amplitude of the SSVER, we determined that the primary visual cortex rCBF follows an activation pattern similar to the SSVER. This finding suggests that the amplitude of the SSVER corresponds to increased synaptic activity, specifically in Brodmann's area 17. Additionally, this study showed that visual stimulation at 40 Hz causes selective activation of the macular region of the visual cortex, and that a region in the dorsal aspect of the Crus I lobule of the left cerebellar hemisphere is activated during repetitive visual stimulation.

Relation between cerebral activity and force in the motor areas of the human brain.

1. Positron emission tomography (PET) studies were performed in six normal right-handed male volunteers (age 30 +/- 3) to investigate the relationship between cerebral activation as measured by relative regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) and force peak exerted during right index finger flexion. The purpose was to determine in which central motor structures activity is directly correlated with force for repeatedly executed movements. 2. Twelve PET rCBF measurements were performed in each volunteer with the use of H2(15)O as a perfusion tracer. Volunteers pressed a Morse-key repetitively with their right index finger for 2 min while lying in a supine position in the PET camera. The device was fitted with strain gauges to measure the force peaks exerted upon it. Scans were collected twice each at five different levels of exerted force peak and in a resting state. Individual and group results were co-registered with anatomic magnetic resonance images (MRI). 3. Group analysis revealed four major regions with a high correlation between rCBF and different degrees of repetitively exerted force peaks. One was located in the arm area of the left lateral surface [primary somatosensory and motor cortex (SI, MI)]. The second area was situated on the left mesial surface of the brain, posterior to the anterior commissure (AC) and encompassing the first gyrus dorsal to the cingulate sulcus. This area is thought to be homologous to the posterior part of the supplementary motor area (SMA) in the monkey. The third area was the dorsal bank of the posterior cingulate sulcus. The fourth area showing a significant correlation between rCBF and force peaks was in the cerebellar vermis. 4. Individual PET data were co-registered with each individual's MRI in order to identify precisely the locations of structures demonstrating a positive correlation between rCBF and force peak. Activated areas on the mesial surface consisted of the same two distinct regions seen in the group data. In three subjects the focus on the lateral surface of the cortex appeared to extend into the caudal premotor area; in two it extended into the rostral part of the superior parietal area. In no subject did blood flow in the anterior cingulate areas and anterior SMA show a correlation with the force exerted. Cerebellar correlations were present in the vermis in all subjects.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Network analysis of motor system connectivity in Parkinson's disease: Modulation of thalamocortical interactions after pallidotomy

AbstractStructural equation modeling was used to examine functional interactions between cortical and subcortical motor areas in Parkinson's disease patients and normal subjects. Neuronal activity was defined by positron emission tomography (PET) imaging of regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) during performance of movement and control tasks. Patients were scanned before and 8‐12 weeks after stereotactic unilateral left posterovental globus pallidotomy. Pallidotomy attenuates basal ganglion inhibition of thalamocortical neurons involved in motor control and reduces the severity of bradykinesia in Parkinson's disease patients. It was hypothesized that with surgery there would be a similar alteration in thalamocortical interactions as measured with PET rCBF. A path analysis model of cortical and basal ganglia circuitry (defined by anatomic and electrophysiologic connectivity) was used to estimate unidirectional path coefficients describing the magnitude of region to region interactions. The resultant interactions defined a composite task‐and disease‐specific functional network of connectivity. After pallidotomy, there were significant reductions in the strength of interactions between the globus pallidus projection to thalamus, and the thalamus, projection to mesial frontal motor areas, consistent with the presumed physiologic interactions of these areas. This modeling approach can identify regional interactions that are not always apparent in categorical comparisons of inmaging data. ©1994 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.

Comparison of [99mTc]HMPAO SPECT with [18F]Fluoromethane PET in Cerebrovascular Disease

Positron emission tomography (PET) of [18F]fluoromethane (FM) and single-photon emission tomography (SPECT) of [99mTc]hexamethylpropyleneamine oxime (HMPAO) were performed under identical conditions within 2 h in 22 patients suffering from cerebrovascular disease (8 ischemic infarction, 2 intracerebral hemorrhages, 7 transient ischemic attacks, and 5 multi-infarct syndrome). While gross pathological changes could be seen in the images of either procedure, focal abnormalities corresponding to transient ischemic deficits or to lesions in multi-infarct syndrome and areas of functional deactivation were sometimes missed on SPECT images. Overall, HMPAO SPECT images showed less contrast between high and low activity regions than the FM PET images, and differences between lesions and contralateral regions were less pronounced (6.4 vs 13.3% difference). Regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) was calculated from FM PET studies in 14 large territorial regions and the pathological lesion, and the regional values relative to mean flow were compared to the relative HMPAO uptake in an identical set of regions defined on the SPECT images. Among individual patients, the Spearman rank-correlation coefficient between relative rCBF and HMPAO uptake varied between 0.48 and 0.89, with a mean of 0.70. While an underestimation of high flow with SPECT--which was demonstrated in a curvilinear relationship between all relative regional PET and SPECT values--could be corrected by linearization taking into account HMPAO efflux from the brain before metabolic trapping, correspondence of SPECT data with PET rCBF values was not improved since this procedure also increased the variance in high flow areas. In the cerebellum, however, a high HMPAO uptake in SPECT always overestimated CBF in relation to forebrain values; this finding might be due to high capillary density in the cerebellum. The differences observed between SPECT and PET data may be explained by technical and physical properties of the methods and by the incomplete first-pass extraction of HMPAO. Additionally, HMPAO or its metabolites may leak through a damaged blood-brain barrier (as observed in one infarct and in the surrounding of hemorrhages), impairing the contrast between lesion and normal tissue. The presented data indicate that the quantification of rCBF by HMPAO SPECT is limited.

Caudal Analgesia

To estimate regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) and brain blood partition coefficient (λ) using a dynamic measurement, a new graphic plot analysis is proposed. By assuming a two-compartment model for tracer kinetics, we derived the linear relationship as Y(t) = K₁ − k₂ X(t), where Y(t) is the ratio of brain tissue activity-to-time-integrated arterial blood activity and X(t) is the ratio of time-integrated brain tissue activity-to-time-integrated arterial blood activity. A plot of Y(t) against X(t) yields a straight line and the y- and x-intercept of the regression line represent rCBF (K₁) and λ, respectively. The slope is a washout constant (−k₂). This method was applied to 14 subjects with N-isopropyl-p-iodine-123 iodoamphetamine ([¹²³I]IMP). The mean values of K₁ and λ for normal subjects were 41.3 ± 6.7 ml/100 g/min and 29.6 ± 6.5 ml/g, respectively, in the gray matter. A comparative study with positron emission tomography (PET) using an H₂¹⁵O autoradiographic method revealed good correlation between IMP K₁ and PET rCBF [r = 0.822; K₁ = 0.842 rCBF + 0.030 (ml/g/min)]. The values of K₁ using the graphical method were in excellent agreement with those using a nonlinear least-squares fitting technique (r = 0.992 for K₁; r = 0.941 for λ). The estimated K₁ values in the graphical method were not changed when scanning times were varied. We conclude that a two-compartment model is acceptable for IMP kinetics within a scan time of 60 min. The graphical method gives a reliable and rapid estimation of rCBF when applied to dynamic data.