The application value of 18F-DOPA and 18F-FP-CIT contrast agents in diagnosing early Parkinson's disease and assessing the severity of the disease in PET/CT

TANG Yazhou; DENG Yujiao; XIONG Chanyu; LUO Yongjie

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1674-3806.2024.07.11

Abstract：Objective To explore the application value of 18F-DOPA and 18F-FP-CIT contrast agents in diag-nosing early Parkinson's disease(PD)and assessing the severity of the disease in positron emission tomography/computed tomography(PET/CT).Methods The clinical data of 119 PD patients(PD group)admitted to Department of Neurology,Sichuan Academy of Medical Sciences·Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital from January 2022 to March 2023 were retro-spectively analyzed.Other 28 individuals receiving healthy physical examination and matching the age and gender of the patients in the PD group during the same period were selected as the control group.Both the PD group and the control group received PET/CT examination.In the PD group,50 cases received a contrast agent of 18F-DOPA(18F-DOPA-PD group)and 69 cases received a contrast agent of 18F-FP-CIT(18F-FP-CIT-PD group).In the control group,14 cases received a contrast agent of 18F-DOPA(18F-DOPA-control group)and 14 cases received a contrast agent of 18F-FP-CIT(18F-FP-CIT-control group).The general clinical data,Visual Analogue Scale scores,and striatum caudate nucleus and putamen uptake indices were compared among all groups.The correlation of striatum caudate nucleus and putamen uptake indices with age,course of disease and Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale Part Ⅲ(UPDRS Ⅲ)scores in the PD patients was explored.Results The striatum caudate nucleus and putamen uptake indices in the 18F-DOPA-PD group and the 18F-FP-CIT-PD group were significantly lower than those in the control group(P＜0.05),and the decreases in the stri-atum caudate nucleus and putamen uptake indices on the contralateral side of the onset side were more significant than those on the onset side(P＜0.05).Regardless of whether 18F-DOPA contrast agent or 18F-FP-CIT contrast agent was used,the striatum caudate nucleus and putamen uptake indices in the patients with mid-to late-stage PD were lower than those in the patients with early-stage PD,and the differences were statistically significant(P＜0.05).In the 18F-DOPA-PD group,the uptake indices of the striatum caudate nucleus,anterior putamen,middle and posterior section of the putamen on the onset side and the contralateral side were negatively correlated with the patients'age,course of disease and UPDRS Ⅲscores(P＜0.05).In the 18F-FP-CIT-PD group,the uptake indices of the striatum caudate nucleus,anterior putamen,middle and posterior section of the putamen on the onset sides and the contralateral sides of the patients were negatively correlated with the patients'course of disease and UPDRS Ⅲ scores(P＜0.05),but were not significantly correlated with the patients'age(P＞0.05).Conclusion Both 18F-DOPA and 18F-FP-CIT contrast agents can reflect the degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in the brain of PD patients in PET/CT,which are helpful for early screening of PD patients and assessment of the disease progression.