Abstract.
Imaging the presynaptic dopamine transporter with cocaine analogues and single-photon emission tomography (SPET) has proven to be a potential diagnostic tool for classifying the extent and degree of dopaminergic nerve cell loss. For correct interpretation of scan results, however, knowledge of the intra-/interobserver variation of data evaluation is mandatory. Iodine-123 labelled N-(3-iodopropen-2-yl)-2β-carbomethoxy-3β-(chlorophenyl)tropane ([123I]IPT) SPET data of 10 controls and 30 parkinsonian patients with varying degrees of reduced IPT binding were analysed twice by an expert (intraobserver) and once by a less experienced physician in training (interobserver). For semiquantitative evaluation of specific IPT binding, ratios between total striatum, caudate and putamen and a background region were calculated. No significant differences were observed for either the intra- or the interobserver analyses. Variation was lower in controls than in the patient group. Overall variation indices were below 5%. Variation in interobserver results was only slightly higher than that in intraobserver results. The intra-/interobserver results showed highly significant correlations (r=0.99). The intraclass correlation was higher than 0.9 for all evaluations. Our results indicate that the specific presynaptic striatal dopamine transporter binding assessed with IPT-SPET may be reproducibly analysed by the same and different observers in controls as well as in patients with varying degrees of reduced binding.
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Received 20 May and in revised form 22 August 2000
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Linke, R., Gostomzyk, J., Hahn, K. et al. [123I]IPT binding to the presynaptic dopamine transporter: variation of intra- and interobserver data evaluation in parkinsonian patients and controls. Eur J Nucl Med 27, 1809–1812 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1007/s002590000384
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s002590000384