Jornal Brasileiro de Psiquiatria (Jan 2011)

Cerebral perfusion and automated individual analysis using SPECT among an obsessive-compulsive population

  • Euclides Timóteo da Rocha,
  • Carlos Alberto Buchpiguel,
  • Euripedes Constantino Miguel,
  • Stela Verzinhase Peres,
  • Geraldo Busatto Filho

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1590/S0047-20852011000100001
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 60, no. 1
pp. 1 – 6

Abstract

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OBJECTIVE: To make individual assessments using automated quantification methodology in order to screen for perfusion abnormalities in cerebral SPECT examinations among a sample of subjects with OCD. METHODS: Statistical parametric mapping (SPM) was used to compare 26 brain SPECT images from patients with OCD individually with an image bank of 32 normal subjects, using the statistical threshold of p < 0.05 (corrected for multiple comparisons at the level of individual voxels or clusters). The maps were analyzed, and regions presenting voxels that remained above this threshold were sought. RESULTS: Six patients from a sample of 26 OCD images showed abnormalities at cluster or voxel level, considering the criteria described above, which represented 23.07%. However, seven images from the normal group of 32 were also indicated as cases of perfusional abnormality, representing 21.8% of the sample. CONCLUSION: The automated quantification method was not considered to be a useful tool for clinical practice, for analyses complementary to visual inspection.

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