[A quantitative study of regional cerebral blood flow in patients with dementia of Alzheimer type using single photon emission computed tomography--clinical application of the IMP autoradiographic method (IMP ARG method)].

We quantitatively measured regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in 37 patients with dementia of Alzheimer type (DAT) to investigate the clinical utilities of the N-isopropyl-p-[123I]iodoamphetamine autoradiographic method (IMP ARG method) that is a quantitative method more simplified and less invasive for IMP-SPECT developed by Iida et al. A given standard input function and a given value of distribution volume (Vd) used for the rCBF measurement of this method were calculated from the dynamic study by six normal volunteers. Mean values [SD] of rCBF (ml/ 100 g/min) in the Cerebral Cortex were 49.0 [6.0] in the controls (n = 20), 42.6 [5.9] in mild DAT group (n = 14), 36.7 [5.5] in moderate DAT group (n = 12), and 26.4 [7.5] in severe DAT group (n = 11), respectively. These values were significantly different between each neighboring group. Moreover, the correlations between the score by the Hasegawa dementia scale (HDS-R) and each rCBF were significant in the temporal, parietal, and frontal cortex. These findings suggest that the rCBF measurement in IMP-SPECT using this method is useful for the diagnosis of the clinical severity in patients with DAT.