da Rocha, Euclides Timoteo [UNESP]Buchpiguel, Carlos AlbertoNitrini, RicardoTazima, SergioPeres, Stela VerzinhaseBusatto Filho, Geraldo2014-05-202014-05-202009-12-01Clinics. São Paulo: Hospital Clinicas, Univ São Paulo, v. 64, n. 12, p. 1145-1153, 2009.1807-5932http://hdl.handle.net/11449/40170INTRODUCTION: Visual analysis is widely used to interpret regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) SPECT images in clinical practice despite its limitations. Automated methods are employed to investigate between-group rCBF differences in research Studies but have rarely been explored in individual analyses.OBJECTIVES: To compare visual inspection by nuclear physicians with the automated statistical parametric mapping program using a SPECT dataset of patients with neurological disorders and normal control images.METHODS: Using statistical parametric mapping, 14 SPECT images from patients with various neurological disorders were compared individually with a databank of 32 normal images using a statistical threshold of p<0.05 (corrected for multiple comparisons at the level of individual voxels or clusters). Statistical parametric mapping results were compared with Visual analyses by a nuclear physician highly experienced in neurology (A) as well as a nuclear physician with a general background of experience (B) who independently classified images as normal or altered, and determined the location of changes and the severity.RESULTS: of the 32 images of the normal databank, 4 generated maps showing rCBF abnormalities (p<0.05, corrected). Among the 14 images from patients with neurological disorders, 13 showed rCBF alterations. Statistical parametric mapping and physician A completely agreed on 84.37% and 64.28% of cases from the normal databank and neurological disorders, respectively. The agreement between statistical parametric mapping and ratings of physician B were lower (71.18% and 35.71%, respectively).CONCLUSION: Statistical parametric mapping replicated the findings described by the more experienced nuclear physician. This finding suggests that automated methods for individually analyzing rCBF SPECT images may be a valuable resource to complement visual inspection in clinical practice.1145-1153engBrain SPECTECDStatistical parametric mappingCerebral blood flowDementiaArtigo10.1590/S1807-59322009001200003S1807-59322009001200003WOS:000273059400003Acesso abertoS1807-59322009001200003.pdf