Department of Radiology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA.
Mol Imaging. 2023 Aug 19;2023:5864391. doi: 10.1155/2023/5864391. eCollection 2023.
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a disease leading to progressive motor degeneration and ultimately death. It is a complex disease that can take a significantly long time to be diagnosed, as other similar pathological conditions must be ruled out for a definite diagnosis of ALS. Noninvasive imaging of ALS has shed light on disease pathology and altered biochemistry in the ALS brain. Other than magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), two types of functional imaging, positron emission tomography (PET) and single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), have provided valuable data about what happens in the brain of ALS patients compared to healthy controls. PET imaging has revealed a specific pattern of brain metabolism through [F]FDG, while other radiotracers have uncovered neuroinflammation, changes in neuronal density, and protein aggregation. SPECT imaging has shown a general decrease in regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in ALS patients. This educational review summarizes the current state of ALS imaging with various PET and SPECT radiopharmaceuticals to better understand the pathophysiology of ALS.
肌萎缩侧索硬化症（ALS）是一种导致进行性运动神经元退化最终导致死亡的疾病。它是一种复杂的疾病，可能需要很长时间才能确诊，因为需要排除其他类似的病理状况才能明确诊断为 ALS。ALS 的无创成像技术揭示了疾病的病理学和 ALS 大脑中的生化改变。除了磁共振成像（MRI）外，两种类型的功能成像，正电子发射断层扫描（PET）和单光子发射计算机断层扫描（SPECT），提供了关于 ALS 患者大脑与健康对照组相比的有价值的数据。PET 成像通过 [F]FDG 显示了特定的脑代谢模式，而其他放射性示踪剂则揭示了神经炎症、神经元密度变化和蛋白质聚集。SPECT 成像显示 ALS 患者的局部脑血流（rCBF）普遍减少。本教育综述总结了各种 PET 和 SPECT 放射性药物在 ALS 成像中的应用现状，以更好地理解 ALS 的病理生理学。
