Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Apparent CBF decrease with normal aging due to partial volume effects: MR-based partial volume correction on CBF SPECT

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Annals of Nuclear Medicine Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Several studies using single photon emission tomography (SPECT) have shown changes in cerebral blood flow (CBF) with age, which were associated with partial volume effects by some authors. Some studies have also demonstrated gender-related differences in CBF. The present study aimed to examine age and gender effects on CBF SPECT images obtained using the99mTc-ethyl cysteinate dimer and a SPECT scanner, before and after partial volume correction (PVC) using magnetic resonance (MR) imaging. Forty-four healthy subjects (29 males and 15 females; age range, 27-64 y; mean age, 50.0 ± 9.8 y) participated. Each MR image was segmented to yield grey and white matter images and coregistered to a corresponding SPECT image, followed by convolution to approximate the SPECT spatial resolution. PVC-SPECT images were produced using the convoluted grey matter MR (GM-MR) and white matter MR images. The age and gender effects were assessed using SPM99. Decreases with age were detected in the anterolateral prefrontal cortex and in areas along the lateral sulcus and the lateral ventricle, bilaterally, in the GM-MR images and the SPECT images. In the PVC-SPECT images, decreases in CBF in the lateral prefrontal cortex lost their statistical significance. Decreases in CBF with age found along the lateral sulcus and the lateral ventricle, on the other hand, remained statistically significant, but observation of the spatially normalized MR images suggests that these findings are associated with the dilatation of the lateral sulcus and lateral ventricle, which was not completely compensated for by the spatial normalization procedure. Our present study demonstrated that age effects on CBF in healthy subjects could reflect morphological differences with age in grey matter.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Goto R, Kawashima R, Ito H, Koyama M, Sato K, Ono S, et al. A comparison of Tc-99m HMPAO brain SPECT images of young and aged normal individuals.Ann Nucl Med 1998; 12: 333–339.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Waldemar G, Hasselbalch SG, Andersen AR, Delecluse F, Petersen P, Johnsen A, et al.99mTc-d,l-HMPAO and SPECT of the brain in normal aging.J Cereb Blood Flow Metab 1991; 11: 508–521.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Markus H, Ring H, Kouris K, Costa D. Alterations in regional cerebral blood flow, with increased temporal inter-hemispheric asymmetries, in the normal elderly: an HMPAO SPECT study.Nucl Med Commun 1993; 14: 628–633.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Van Laere K, Versijpt J, Audenaert K, Koole M, Goethals I, Achten E, et al.99mTc-ECD brain perfusion SPET: variability, asymmetry and effects of age and gender in healthy adults.Eur J Nucl Med 2001; 28: 873–887.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Catafau AM, Lomena FJ, Pavia J, Parellada E, Bernardo M, Setoain J, et al. Regional cerebral blood flow pattern in normal young and aged volunteers: a99mTc-HMPAO SPET study.Eur J Nucl Med 1996; 23: 1329–1337.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Mozley PD, Sadek AM, Alavi A, Gur RC, Muenz LR, Bunow BJ, et al. Effects of aging on the cerebral distribution of technetium-99m hexamethylpropylene amine oxime in healthy humans.Eur J Nucl Med 1997; 24: 754–761.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Martin AJj, Fristen KJ, Colebatch JG, Frackowiak RS. Decreases in regional cerebral blood flow with normal aging.J Cereb Blood Flow Metab 1991; 11: 684–689.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Krausz Y, Bonne O, Gorfine M, Karger H, Lerer B, Chisin R. Age-related changes in brain perfusion of normal subjects detected by99mTc-HMPAO SPECT.Neuroradiology 1998; 40: 428–434.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Claus JJ, Breteler MM, Hasan D, Krenning EP, Bots ML, Grobbee DE, et al. Regional cerebral blood flow and cere-brovascular risk factors in the elderly population.Neurobiol Aging 1998; 19: 57–64.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Gur RC, Gur RE, Obrist WD, Hungerbuhler JP, Younkin D, Rosen AD, et al. Sex and handedness differences in cerebral blood flow during rest and cognitive activity.Science 1982; 217: 659–661.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Rodriguez G, Warkentin S, Risberg J, Rosadini G, Sex differences in regional cerebral blood flow.J Cereb Blood Flow Metab 1988; 8: 783–789.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Pagani M, Salmaso D, Jonsson C, Hatherly R, Jacobsson H, Larsson SA, et al. Regional cerebral blood flow as assessed by principal component analysis and (99m)Tc-HMPAO SPET in healthy subjects at rest: normal distribution and effect of age and gender.Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging 2002; 29: 67–75.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Jones K, Johnson KA, Becker JA, Spiers PA, Albert MS, Holman BL. Use of singular value decomposition to characterize age and gender differences in SPECT cerebral perfusion.J Nucl Med 1998; 39: 965–973.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Hoffman EJ, Huang SC, Phelps ME. Quantitation in positron emission computed tomography: 1. Effect of object size.J Comput Assist Tomogr 1979; 3: 299–308.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Meltzer CC, Leal JP, Mayberg HS, Wagner HN Jr, Frost JJ. Correction of PET data for partial volume effects in human cerebral cortex by MR imaging.J Comput Assist Tomogr 1990; 14:561–570.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Muller-Gartner HW, Links JM, Prince JL, Bryan RN, Mcveigh E, Leal JP, et al. Measurement of radiotracer concentration in brain gray matter using positron emission tomography: MRI-based correction for partial volume effects.J Cereb Blood Flow Metab 1992; 12: 571–583.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Strul D, Bendriem B, Robustness of anatomically guided pixel-by-pixel algorithms for partial volume effect correction in positron emission tomography.J Cereb Blood Flow Metab 1999; 19: 547–559.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Rousset OG, Ma Y, Evans AC. Correction for partial volume effects in PET: principle and validation.J Nucl Med 1998; 39: 904–911.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Videen TO, Perlmutter JS, Mintun MA, Raichle ME. Regional correction of positron emission tomography data for the effects of cerebral atrophy.J Cereb Blood Flow Metab 1988; 8: 662–670.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Ashburner J, Fristen KJ. Voxel-based morphometry—the methods.Neuroimage 2000; 11: 805–821.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Goldszal AF, Davatzikos C, Pham DL, Yan MX, Bryan RN, Resnick SM. An image-processing system for qualitative and quantitative volumetric analysis of brain images.J Comput Assist Tomogr 1998; 22: 827–837.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Resnick SM, Pham DL, Kraut MA, Zonderman AB, Davatzikos C. Longitudinal magnetic resonance imaging studies of older adults: a shrinking brain.J Neurosci 2003; 23: 3295–3301.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Good CD, Johnsrude IS, Ashburner J, Henson RN, Friston KJ, Frackowiak RSJ. A voxel-based morphometric study of ageing in 465 normal adult human brains.Neuroimage 2001; 14: 21–36.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Good CD, Johnsrude I, Ashburner J, Henson RN, Friston KJ, Frackowiak RS. Cerebral asymmetry and the effects of sex and handedness on brain structure: a voxel-based morphometric analysis of 465 normal adult human brains.Neuroimage 2001; 14: 685–700.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Van Laere KJ, Dierckx RA. Brain perfusion SPECT: age- and sex-related effects correlated with voxel-based morphometric findings in healthy adults.Radiology 2001; 221: 810–817.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  26. Inoue K, Nakagawa M, Goto R, Kinomura S, Sato T, Sato K, et al. Regional differences between (99m)Tc-ECD and (99m)Tc-HMPAO SPET in perfusion changes with age and gender in healthy adults.Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging 2003; 30: 1489–1497.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  27. Ibanez V, Pietrini P, Alexander GE, Furey ML, Teichberg D, Rajapakse JC, et al. Regional glucose metabolic abnormalities are not the result of atrophy in Alzheimer’s disease.Neurology 1998; 50: 1585–1593.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. Labbe C, Froment JC, Kennedy A, Ashburner J, Cinotti L. Positron emission tomography metabolic data corrected for cortical atrophy using magnetic resonance imaging.Alzheimer Dis Assoc Disord 1996; 10: 141–170.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. Matsuda H, Kanetaka H, Ohnishi T, Asada T, Imabayashi E, Nakano S, et al. Brain SPET abnormalities in Alzheimer’s disease before and after atrophy correction.Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging 2002; 29: 1502–1505.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  30. Meltzer CC, Cantwell MN, Greer PJ, Ben-Eliezer D, Smith G, Frank G, et al. Does cerebral blood flow decline in healthy aging? A PET study with partial-volume correction.J Nucl Med 2000; 41: 1842–1848.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  31. Matsuda H, Ohnishi T, Asada T, Li ZJ, Kanetaka H, Imabayashi E, et al. Correction for partial-volume effects on brain perfusion SPECT in healthy men.J Nucl Med 2003; 44: 1243–1252.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  32. Koyama M, Kawashima R, Ito H, Ono S, Sato K, Goto R, et al. SPECT imaging of normal subjects with technetium-99m-HMPAO and technetium-99m-ECD.J Nucl Med 1997; 38: 587–592.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  33. Ashburner J, Friston KJ. Multimodal image coregistration and partitioning—a unified framework.Neuroimage 1997; 6: 209–217.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  34. Rorden C, Brett M. Stereotaxic display of brain lesions.Behav Neurol 2000; 12: 191–200.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  35. Ashburner J, Neelin P, Collins DL, Evans A, Friston KJ. Incorporating prior knowledge into image registration.Neuroimage 1997; 6: 344–352.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  36. Ashburner J, Friston KJ. Nonlinear spatial normalization using basis functions.Hum Brain Mapp 1999; 7: 254–266.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  37. Benjamini Y, Hochberg Y. Controlling the False Discovery Rate: a Practical and Powerful Approach to Multiple Testing.J Royal Stat Soc B 1995; 57: 289–300.

    Google Scholar 

  38. Yekutieli D, Benjamini Y. Resampling based false discovery controlling multiple test procedures for correlated test statistics.J Statist Plann Inference 1999; 82: 171–196.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  39. Genovese CR, Lazar NA, Nichols T. Thresholding of statistical maps in functional neuroimaging using the false discovery rate.Neuroimage 2002; 15: 870–878.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  40. Taki Y, Goto R, Evans A, Zijdenbos A, Neelin P, Lerch J, et al. Voxel-based morphometry of human brain with age and cerebrovascular risk factors.Neurobiol Aging 2004; 25: 455–463.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  41. Raz N, Gunning FM, Head D, Dupuis JH, Mcquain J, Briggs SD, et al. Selective aging of the human cerebral cortex observedin vivo: differential vulnerability of the prefrontal gray matter.Cereb Cortex 1997; 7: 268–282.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  42. Bencherif B, Stumpf MJ, Links JM, Frost JJ. Application of MRI-Based Partial-Volume Correction to the Analysis of PET Images of micro-Opioid Receptors Using Statistical Parametric Mapping.J Nucl Med 2004; 45: 402–408.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  43. Xu J, Kobayashi S, Yamaguchi S, Iijima K-I, Okada K, Yamashita K. Gender Effects on Age-Related Changes in Brain Structure.AJNR Am J Neuroradiol 2000; 21: 112–118.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  44. Gur RC, Mozley PD, Resnick SM, Gottlieb GL, Kohn M, Zimmerman R, et al. Gender differences in age effect on brain atrophy measured by magnetic resonance imaging.Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 1991; 88: 2845–2849.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  45. Longstreth WT Jr, Arnold AM, Manolio TA, Burke GL, Bryan N, Jungreis CA, et al. Clinical correlates of ventricular and sulcal size on cranial magnetic resonance imaging of 3,301 elderly people. The Cardiovascular Health Study. Collaborative Research Group.Neuroepidemiology 2000; 19: 30–42.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  46. Davatzikos C, Resnick SM. Degenerative age changes in white matter connectivity visualizedin vivo using magnetic resonance imaging.Cereb Cortex 2002; 12: 767–771.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Nuclear Medicine and Radiology, Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University, 4-1 Seiryo-machi, Aoba-ku, 980-8575, Sendai, Japan

    Kentaro Inoue, Hiroshi Ito, Ryoi Goto, Manabu Nakagawa, Shigeo Kinomura, Tachio Sato, Kazunori Sato & Hiroshi Fukuda

Authors
  1. Kentaro Inoue
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Hiroshi Ito
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Ryoi Goto
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Manabu Nakagawa
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Shigeo Kinomura
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Tachio Sato
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Kazunori Sato
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Hiroshi Fukuda
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kentaro Inoue.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Inoue, K., Ito, H., Goto, R. et al. Apparent CBF decrease with normal aging due to partial volume effects: MR-based partial volume correction on CBF SPECT. Ann Nucl Med 19, 283–290 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02984620

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02984620

Key words

Search

Navigation