Studies of Brain Metabolism in Psychiatric Patients: Can Standards Be Drawn?

Positron Emission Tomography (PET) has been used for a decade in psychiatric research to study regional brain glucose metabolism, and the results seem to be inconsistent. However, the inconsistency may be explained by differences in methods and clinical protocols. This problem has been recognized by the EEC Concerted Action on PET, which is why a special psychiatric group was convened. Researchers with knowledge in different aspects of PET methodology like mathematical models, cameras, brain atlas, stimulaton studies and psychiatric research organized a meeting to discuss standardization problems and how to minimize errors in PET investigations. This volume will give the reader knowledge about the state of the art, define problems and discuss possible solutions. It gives suggestions for good cinical PET practice. Such a theme has not been published before.

Contenu

Glucose metabolism in psychiatric disorders: how can we facilitate comparisons among studies?.- Operators and scales: diagnostic and rating issues in psychiatric PET research.- Drug washout issues in studies of cerebral metabolism by positron emission tomography in psychiatric patients.- The FDG model and its application in clinical PET studies.- On the influence of spatial resolution and of the size and form of regions of interest on the measurement of regional cerebral metabolic rates by positron emission tomography.- The role of anatomic information in quantifying functional neuroimaging data.- The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, schizophrenia and PET.