An automated method for the extraction of regional data from PET images

Rusjan, Pablo; Mamo, David; Ginovart, Nathalie; Hussey, Douglas; Vitcu, Irina; Yasuno, Fumihiko; Tetsuya, Suhara; Houle, Sylvain; Kapur, Shitij

doi:10.1016/j.pscychresns.2006.01.011

« Previous Next »Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging
Volume 147, Issue 1 , Pages 79-89, 30 June 2006

An automated method for the extraction of regional data from PET images

Pablo Rusjan
- PET Centre, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, 250 College Street, Toronto, ON M5T 1R8, Canada
- Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 416 535 8501x4215; fax: +1 416 260 4164.
David Mamo
- PET Centre, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, 250 College Street, Toronto, ON M5T 1R8, Canada
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Canada
Nathalie Ginovart
- PET Centre, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, 250 College Street, Toronto, ON M5T 1R8, Canada
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Canada
Douglas Hussey
- PET Centre, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, 250 College Street, Toronto, ON M5T 1R8, Canada
Irina Vitcu
- PET Centre, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, 250 College Street, Toronto, ON M5T 1R8, Canada
Fumihiko Yasuno
- Brain Imaging Project, National Institute of Radiological Science, Chiba, Japan
Suhara Tetsuya
- Brain Imaging Project, National Institute of Radiological Science, Chiba, Japan
Sylvain Houle
- PET Centre, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, 250 College Street, Toronto, ON M5T 1R8, Canada
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Canada
Shitij Kapur
- PET Centre, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, 250 College Street, Toronto, ON M5T 1R8, Canada
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Canada

Received 19 September 2005; received in revised form 19 January 2006; accepted 20 January 2006.

Abstract

Manual drawing of regions of interest (ROIs) on brain positron emission tomography (PET) images is labour intensive and subject to intra- and inter-individual variations. To standardize analysis and improve the reproducibility of PET measures, we have developed image analysis software for automated quantification of PET data. The method is based on the individualization of a set of standard ROIs using a magnetic resonance (MR) image co-registered with the PET image. To evaluate the performance of this automated method, the software-based quantification has been compared with conventional manual quantification of PET images obtained using three different PET radiotracers: [¹¹C]-WAY 100635, [¹¹C]-raclopride and [¹¹C]-DASB. Our results show that binding potential estimates obtained using the automated method correlate highly with those obtained by trained raters using manual delineation of ROIs for frontal and temporal cortex, thalamus, and striatum (global intraclass correlation coefficient >0.8). For the three radioligands, the software yields time–activity data that are similar (within 8%) to those obtained by manual quantification, eliminates investigator-dependent variability, considerably shortens the time required for analysis and thus provides an alternative method for accurate quantification of PET data.