Optimisation of statistical methodologies for a better diagnosis of neurological and psychiatric disorders by means of SPECT

In the last years there has been a wide consensus on the importance
of brain imaging in assessing neurodegenerative and
psychiatric disorders. Different techniques for functional and
anatomical examination are currently clinically implemented in
neurology and psychiatry to improve sensitivity, specificity and
accuracy of the diagnosis of various diseases. In addition, the
increasing life expectancy in the Western world raises the social
importance and the economical impact of age-related neurodegenerative
disorders since the incidence of Alzheimer disease
and Parkinson disease is higher in the elderly.
An early diagnosis of neuro-psychiatric diseases and the
assessment of ìnaturalî changes of regional cerebral blood flow
(rCBF) distribution during normal aging are hence of utmost
importance.
In the recent past brain disorders have extensively been investigated
by means of optimised nuclear medicine techniques,
instruments and algorithms. Diagnosis can be better achieved
by identifying those structures in which CBF or metabolism
deviate from normality resulting in significant changes as compared
to a reference database.
In the present paper we present some studies investigating, by
means of recently implemented diagnostic tools, patients bearer
of various neuro-psychiatric disorders. The improved nuclear
medicine techniques and instrumentation, the state-of-the-art
software for brain imaging standardisation and the use of sophisticated
multivariate data analysis are extensively reviewed.