Validation of the cerebellum as a reference region for SPECT quantification in patients suffering from dementia of the Alzheimer type.

In longitudinal brain studies of dementia of the Alzheimer type (DAT), the cerebellum is often used as a reference region for single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) quantification, which assumes no significant regional influence of physiological fluctuations or pathology. With the use of absolute quantification in DAT patients, reproducibility of cerebellar uptake of technetium-99m-d,l-hexamethylpropyleneamine oxime (HMPAO) was tested and compared with the mean absolute cerebellar tracer uptake value in DAT patients and healthy control subjects. In 13 DAT patients SPECT studies were repeated within 2 weeks to assess reproducibility of cerebellar regional brain uptake (rBU). With calibrated point sources as scaling factors, cerebellar activity was expressed as rBU of HMPAO per cm3 brain tissue in percent of the injected lipophilic dose of 740 MBq (20 mCi). Also, mean cerebellar rBU in patients suffering from DAT was calculated and compared with a previously established database obtained in healthy volunteers. Repeated SPECT studies within a 2-week interval in clinically stable patients resulted in a mean rBU increase of 6.8 +/- 10.3% in the second SPECT study as compared with the first. A similar shift was previously reported in healthy volunteers. Mean cortical cerebellar rBU values in DAT patients and in the healthy reference population concurred, after cumulative corrections for body surface and for a mean brain volume of 1350 ml (obtained in healthy control subjects), showing respective mean values of 53.9 +/- 7.4 and of 52.0 +/- 7.3 x 10(-6) of the injected lipophilic dose 740 MBq (20 mCi) of HMPAO per cm3 of brain tissue. A unidirectional shift in mean absolute cerebellar uptake values occurs between repeat SPECT examinations in DAT patients similar to previous findings in a group of healthy volunteers. The origin of this phenomenon remains elusive but deserves further study with regard to SPECT (semi)quantification in DAT patients. Most interestingly, the presented findings suggest that with the use of HMPAO SPECT in DAT patients the cerebellum remains scintigraphically uninvolved.