Comparison of performance between an F 18 -FDG PET normal brain template and a commercial template using the MIMneuro software

Abstract

Purpose: The aim of this study was to create and validate a normal brain template of ${}^{18}F$ -fluorodeoxyglucose ( ${}^{18}F\text{-}\mathrm{FDG}$ ) uptake using the MIMneuro software to improve clinical practice.

Approach: One hundred and nine volunteers underwent an ${}^{18}F\text{-}\mathrm{FDG}$ positron emission tomography/computed tomography scan. Sixty-three participants with normal Alzheimer's disease (AD) biomarkers were used to create a template. A group of 23 participants with abnormal AD biomarkers and an additional group of 23 participants with normal AD biomarkers were used to validate the performance of the generated template. The MIMneuro software was used for the analysis and template creation. The performance of our newly created template was compared with that of the MIMneuro software template in the validation groups. Results were confirmed by visual analysis by nuclear medicine physicians.

Results: Our created template provided higher sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value (NPV; 90%, 97.83%, 100%, and 100%, respectively) than did the MIMneuro template when using the positive validation group. Similarly, slightly higher performance was observed for our template than for the MIMneuro template in the negative validation group (the highest specificity and NPV were 100% and 100%, respectively).

Conclusions: Our normal brain template for ${}^{18}F\text{-}\mathrm{FDG}$ was shown to be clinically useful because it enabled more accurate discrimination between aging brain and patients with AD. Thus, the template may improve the accuracy of AD diagnoses.

Keywords: 18F-FDG; Alzheimer’s; MIMneuro; PET; brain template; database.