An evaluation method of brain atrophy in patients with cognitive disorder using statistical parametric mapping (SPM) and easy Z score imaging system (eZIS)

In order to investigate the cerebral blood flow, the easy Z Score Imaging System (eZIS), was developed, and has been applied in clinical nuclear medicine diagnosis. Single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) with 123I-N-isopropyl-p-iodoamphetamine (123I-IMP) and MRI with T1 weighed image (T1WI) sequence was performed, and the images were analyzed using the SPM2 and the eZIS Ver 3.5 to investigate cerebral blood flow and atrophy in patients with cognitive disorder objectively. SPM2 had 2 process of normalization, smoothing in case of SPECT and needed 3 process of normalization, segmentation, smoothing which used voxel based morphometry (VBM) in case of MRI. And then it was changed into Z-score both data afterwards by eZIS. We compared the eZIS Z score of cerebral blood flow and cerebral atrophy between some patients with the dementia of the Alzheimer type. In our evaluation using the eZIS Z score, the scores for the brain perfusion and atrophy were almost related in the tempo-parietal region, but the mismatch of cerebral blood flow degradation without atrophy was recognized a little. This method facilitates the objective evaluation of cerebral blood flow and brain atrophy, and may be useful for analyzing the condition of this disease. (author)