ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the clinical value of [11C]CFT PET in the diagnosis and severity assessment of Parkinson disease (PD). Methods Thirty-eight patients with PD at various Hoehn & Yahr (H&Y) stages were included and underwent a [11C]CFT PET scan. The correlation between [11C]CFT uptake and unified Parkinson disease rating scale part III (UPDRS III) of PD patients was evaluated by calculating Pearson’s regression coefficient. Statistical parametric mapping (SPM) analysis was performed to compare the difference of dopamine transporter (DAT) distribution between ear-ly and advanced PD patients. Results There was a significant reduction of [11C]CFT uptake in the bilateral striatum of PD patients. There was a significant negative correlation between clinical scores of UPDRS III, rigidity, bradykinesia, pos-ture, gait and [11C]CFT uptake in the striatum. The SPM analysis revealed a significant and asymmetric decrease of [11C] CFT uptake in the striatum, predominantly on the putamen and caudate nucleus contralateral to the onset limb, in the posterior area of ipsilateral putamen in early PD (H&Y 1-2) patients compared with the normal controls. There was a sig-nificant symmetric decrease of [11C]CFT uptake in both putamen and caudate nucleus in advanced PD (H&Y 3-5) pa- tients, compared with normal controls. Compared with early PD patients, the reduction of DAT was more severe in bilater-al caudate nucleus and the ipsilateral putamen in the advanced PD patients. Conclusions [11C]CFT PET is a sensitive biomarker in the diagnosis and assessment of disease severity of PD patients.