The combination of the 18F-FDG and 18F-FP-DTBZ PET for early diagnosis of cerebral glucose metabolism and dopaminergic dysfunction in Parkinson's disease

Abstract Objective: This study aimed to use 18F-FDG and 18F-FP-DTBZ PET to illustrate the correlation between cerebral glucose metabolism and nigrostriatal dopamine function and to investigate the precision of early Parkinson's disease (PD) diagnosis. Methods: 18 healthy control participants and 32 patients with early PD were recruited for 18F-FDG and 18F-FP-DTBZ PET scans. Results: Patients with PD exhibited significant 18F-FDG metabolic reduction in the frontal, parietal, and temporal cortex, as well as notable increased metabolism in the putamen, thalamus, pons, and cerebellum (all P 18F-FP-DTBZ uptake in the bilateral caudate, anterior putamen, and posterior putamen (all P 18F-FP-DTBZ uptake in the bilateral caudate and anterior putamen positively correlated with the reduction in 18F-FDG uptake in the frontal cortical regions (r=0.352, 0.324, 0.300, and 0.314, respectively; all P P 18F-FDG and 18F-FP-DTBZ model exhibited the highest reliable prognostic performance, yielding an area under the curve of 0.979 (95% CI 0.948–1.00, P Conclusions: Our study suggested that 18F-FDG and 18F-FP-DTBZ PET imaging was an excellent tool in differentiating PD from normal aging in the early stage of the disease.