Objective: This study aims to investigate the prognostic relevance of the patterns of early-phase ¹⁸F-fluorinated N-3-fluoropropyl-2-beta-carboxymethoxy-3-beta-(4-iodophenyl) nortropane (¹⁸F-FP-CIT) positron emission tomography (PET) images in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD).

Background: Some evidence suggests that early-phase ¹⁸F-FP-CIT PET images (i.e., images which are acquired within the first 10 minutes after the injection of 5 mCi [185 MBq] of ¹⁸F-FP-CIT) can provide information on the regional cerebral perfusion, which resembles ¹⁸F-Fludeoxyglucose PET images. In this study, we hypothesized that the patterns of early-phase ¹⁸F-FP-CIT PET images would be associated with cognitive prognosis in patients with PD.

Method: A total of 227 patients with early-stage PD who underwent ¹⁸F-FP-CIT PET scans were enrolled in this study. We visually divided the patients with PD into two groups according to the patterns of early-phase ¹⁸F-FP-CIT PET images: a group with posterior cortical hypoperfusion and a group without posterior cortical hypoperfusion. We then compared the risk of dementia conversion between the two groups during the follow-up period.

Results: Among 227 patients with PD, 81 (35.7%) patients exhibited posterior cortical hypoperfusion on early-phase ¹⁸F-FP-CIT PET scans. There were no significant differences between the two groups in age, sex, disease duration, years of education, Unified PD Rating Scale Part III scores, and Mini-Mental State Examination scores at initial assessment. Meanwhile, Cox regression analysis demonstrated that the PD group with posterior cortical hypoperfusion had a higher risk of developing dementia than the PD group without posterior cortical hypoperfusion (hazard ratio, 2.743; 95% confidence interval, 1.371−5.486; p = 0.004).

Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that early-phase ¹⁸F-FP-CIT PET images would provide additional information on future cognitive decline in patients with PD.

References: n/a

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/patterns-of-early-phase-18f-fp-cit-pet-images-and-the-risk-of-dementia-conversion-in-parkinsons-disease/