Effect of tissue heterogeneity on quantification in positron emission tomography

Measurement of heterogeneous distribution on Technegas SPECT images by three-dimensional fractal analysis

This review article describes a method for quantifying heterogeneous distribution on Technegas (99mTc-carbon particle radioaerosol) SPECT images by three-dimensional fractal analysis (3D-FA). Technegas SPECT was performed to quantify the severity of pulmonary emphysema. We delineated the SPECT images by using five cut-offs (15, 20, 25, 30 and 35% of the maximal voxel radioactivity), and measured the total number of voxels in the areas surrounded by the contours obtained with each cut-off level. We calculated fractal dimensions from the relationship between the total number of voxels and the cut-off levels transformed into natural logarithms. The fractal dimension derived from 3D-FA is the relative and objective measurement, which can assess the heterogeneous distribution on Technegas SPECT images. The fractal dimension strongly correlate pulmonary function in patients with emphysema and well documented the overall and regional severity of emphysema.

Imaging of skeletal muscle function using (18)FDG PET: force production, activation, and metabolism

The purpose of this study was to determine whether [(18)F]fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET) can be used to evaluate muscle force production, create anatomic images of muscle activity, and resolve the distribution of metabolic activity within exercising skeletal muscle. Seventeen subjects performed either elbow flexion, elbow extension, or ankle plantar flexion after intravenous injection of FDG. PET imaging was performed subsequently, and FDG uptake was measured in skeletal muscle for each task. A fivefold increase in resistance during elbow flexion increased FDG uptake in the biceps brachii by a factor of 4. 9. Differences in relative FDG uptake were demonstrated as exercise tasks and loads were varied, permitting differentiation of active muscles. The intramuscular distribution of FDG within exercising biceps brachii varied along the transverse and longitudinal axes of the muscle; coefficients of variation along these axes were 0.39 and 0.23, respectively. These findings suggest FDG PET is capable of characterizing task-specific muscle activity and measuring intramuscular variations of glucose metabolism within exercising skeletal muscle.

Imaging the structure of the striatum: a fractal approach to SPECT image interpretation

The spatial pattern of striatal dopamine transporter density in the living human brain was tested by duplicate SPECT scans with [123I]PE2I, [123I]beta-CIT or [123I]beta-CIT-FP and striatal phantom measurements. The resolution-dependent spatial variation was calculated by the fractal analysis of SPECT images. This variation, which depends on the size of the region of interest, was described by the spatial dispersion i.e. the standard deviation of the count densities divided by the mean density. In each sub-region, the observed and methodological dispersions were computed, and the resulting spatial dispersion was calculated. The methodological dispersion is caused by the imaging resolution, flood field non-uniformity, count density, scatter, reconstruction errors and partial volume effects, whereas the spatial dispersion is based on the cerebral heterogeneity of the dopamine transporter density. Recognition of the normal variation in heterogeneity is important in evaluation of the striatal dopamine transporter density between controls and patients suffering from various neuropsychiatric disorders.

Fractal analysis of striatal dopamine re-uptake sites

Spatial variation in regional blood flow, metabolism and receptor density within the brain and in other organs is measurable even with a low spatial resolution technique such as emission tomography. It has been previously shown that the observed variance increases with increasing number of subregions in the organ/tissue studied. This resolution-dependent variance can be described by fractal analysis. We studied striatal dopamine re-uptake sites in 39 healthy volunteers with high-resolution single-photon emission tomography using iodine-123 labelled 2beta-carbomethoxy-3beta-(4-iodophenyl)tropane ([123I]beta-CIT). The mean fractal dimension was 1.15+/-0.07. The results indicate that regional striatal dopamine re-uptake sites involve considerable spatial heterogeneity which is higher than the uniform density (dimension=1.00) but much lower than complete randomness (dimension=1.50). There was a gender difference, with females having a higher heterogeneity in both the left and the right striatum. In addition, we found striatal asymmetry (left-to-right heterogeneity ratio of 1.19+/-0.15; P<0.001), suggesting functional hemispheric lateralization consistent with the control of motor behaviour and integrative functions.