PET Imaging of Dopamine Transporter(DAT) in the Diagnosis of Parkinson's Disease

Purpose: The marker of presynaptic neuron,dopamine transporter(DAT),is a sensitive indicator of neural damage in Parkinson’s disease(PD). The aim of this study was to evaluate the abnormality of PD through DAT PET imaging. Materials and Methods: Thirty-one patients with advanced bilateral Parkinson’s disease underwent 11C-β-CFT PET scanning. The PET finding were compared with that of 18 normal subjects. Two methods of analysis were employed: region of interest(ROI) analysis,and statistical parametric mapping (SPM). Results: ROI showed that the DAT binding in caudate and putamen in PD group was significantly reduced (P0.01) comparing to the normal controls,especially in the striatum of the more seriously damaged side. The DAT binding uptake in the head of caudate、body of caudate、 anterior putamen、intermediate putamen and posterior putamen of the serious-side were significantly reduced to 94.6%、87.0%、89.6%、91.8%、95.4% of the counter parts of the other side of brain. In SPM analysis,reduced DAT binding was also noted in the caudate and posterior putamen. (P0.001 corrected). The area of DAT reduction on the serious-side was larger than the contralateral side. Conclusions: 11C-β-CFT could reveal the regional change of DAT and is helpful in diagnosing Parkinson’s disease and evaluating therapeutic effect. SPM analysis is a more objective and accurate method.