Validation of reference tissue modelling for [11C]flumazenil positron emission tomography following head injury.

Abstract

OBJECTIVE:

[(11)C]Flumazenil ([(11)C]FMZ) positron emission tomography (PET) can be used as a measure of neuronal loss. The purpose of this study was to validate reference tissue kinetic modelling of [(11)C]FMZ PET within a group of patients with head injury.

METHODS:

Following earlier studies, the pons was used as the reference region. PET scans were performed on 16 controls and 11 patients at least 6 months following injury, each of whom also had arterial blood sampling to provide whole blood and metabolite-corrected plasma input functions. Regional non-displaceable binding potentials (BP(ND)) were calculated from five reference tissue models and compared to BP(ND) from arterial input models. For the patients, the regions included a peri-lesional region of interest (ROI).

RESULTS:

Total distribution volume of the pons was not significantly different between control and patient groups (P = 0.24). BP(ND) from all the reference tissue approaches correlated well with BP(ND) from the plasma input models for both controls (r (2) = 0.98-1.00; P < 0.001) and patients (r (2) = 0.99-1.00; P < 0.001). For the peri-lesional regions (n = 11 ROI values), the correlation was also high (r (2) = 0.91).

CONCLUSIONS:

These results indicate that reference tissue modelling with the pons as the reference region is valid for [(11)C]FMZ PET in head-injured patients at 6 months following injury within both normal appearing and peri-lesional brain regions.

• Authors: Thomas Geeraerts, Jonathan P Coles, Franklin I Aigbirhio, John D Pickard, David K Menon, Tim D Fryer, Young T Hong
• Journal: Annals of nuclear medicine (Ann Nucl Med) Vol. 25 Issue 6 Pg. 396-405 (Jul 2011) ISSN: 1864-6433 [Electronic] Japan
• PMID: 21461598 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't, Validation Study)

Chemical References

• Carbon Radioisotopes
• Flumazenil

Topics

• Adult
• Aged
• Arteries (diagnostic imaging, physiopathology)
• Carbon Radioisotopes
• Craniocerebral Trauma (diagnostic imaging, metabolism, pathology, physiopathology)
• Female
• Flumazenil
• Humans
• Kinetics
• Male
• Middle Aged
• Models, Biological
• Pons (diagnostic imaging, metabolism)
• Positron-Emission Tomography (standards)
• Reference Standards
• Young Adult