Source-Based Morphometry Multivariate Approach to Analyze [123I]FP-CIT SPECT Imaging

• Published in: Molecular imaging and biology 2017-10, Vol.19 (5), p.772-778
• Main Authors: Premi, Enrico, Calhoun, V. D., Garibotto, V., Turrone, R., Alberici, A., Cottini, E., Pilotto, A., Gazzina, S., Magoni, M., Paghera, B., Borroni, B., Padovani, A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aged; Basal ganglia; Binding; Brain; Brain mapping; Brain stem; Case-Control Studies; Central nervous system diseases; Computed tomography; Cortex; Demography; Disease control; Dopamine; Dopamine transporter; Emission analysis; Female; Ganglia; Humans; Imaging; Independent component analysis; Male; Medical imaging; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Middle Aged; Morphometry; Movement disorders; Multivariate Analysis; Neostriatum; Neurodegenerative diseases; Neuroimaging; Neurotransmission; Parkinson Disease - diagnostic imaging; Parkinson's disease; Photon emission; Radiology; Research Article; Serotonin; Serotonin transporter; Single photon emission computed tomography; Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon; Tropanes - chemistry
• ISSN: 1536-1632; 1860-2002
• DOI: 10.1007/s11307-017-1052-3

Purpose [ 123 I]FP-CIT (DaTSCAN®) single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) imaging is widely used to study neurodegenerative parkinsonism, by measuring presynaptic dopamine transporter (DAT) in striatal regions. Beyond DAT, [ 123 I]FP-CIT may be considered for other monoaminergic systems, in particular the serotonin transporter (SERT). Independent component analysis (ICA) implemented in source-based morphometry (SBM) could represent an alternative method to explore monoaminergic pathways, studying the relationship among voxels and grouping them into “neurotransmission” networks. Procedures One hundred forty-three subjects [84 with Parkinson’s disease (PD) and 59 control individuals (CG)] underwent DATSCAN® imaging. The [ 123 I]FP-CIT binding was evaluated by multivariate SBM approach, as well as by a whole-brain voxel-wise univariate (statistical parametric mapping, SPM) approach. Results As compared to the univariate whole-brain approach (SPM) (only demonstrating striatal [ 123 I]FP-CIT binding reduction in PD group), SBM identified six sources of non-artefactual origin, including basal ganglia and cortical regions as well as brainstem. Among them, three sources (basal ganglia and cortical regions) presented loading scores (as index of [ 123 I]FP-CIT binding) significantly different between PD and CG. Notably, even if not significantly different between PD and CG, the remaining three non-artefactual sources were characterized by a predominant frontal, brainstem, and occipito-temporal involvement. Conclusion The concept of source blind separation by the application of ICA (as implemented in SBM) represents a feasible approach to be considered in [ 123 I]FP-CIT (DaTSCAN ® ) SPECT imaging. Taking advantage of this multivariate analysis, specific patterns of variance can be identified (involving either striatal than extrastriatal regions) that could be useful in differentiating neurodegenerative parkinsonisms.