Nuklearmed Nucl Med
-
Nuklearmed Nucl Med · Jan 2012
123I-FP-CIT SPECT imaging of the dopaminergic state. Visual assessment of dopaminergic degeneration patterns reflects quantitative 2D operator-dependent and 3D operator-independent techniques.
123I-N-ω-fluoropropyl-2β-carbomethoxy-3β-(4-iodophenyl)nortropan (123I-FP-CIT) single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) can be evaluated by both visual assessment and quantitative analysis to assess the striatal dopamine state in vivo. The aim of our study was to investigate if visual assessment according to a predefined image grading scale reflects the results of quantitative assessment techniques. ⋯ Visual assessment was highly consistent with the results obtained by quantitative analysis and showed a substantial inter-rater agreement between experienced and inexperienced raters. Our findings indicate that visual assessment might be a reliable analysis approach for clinical routine.