MRI-guided region-of-interest delineation is comparable to manual delineation in dopamine transporter SPECT quantification in patients: a reproducibility study

A particularly sensitive step in the quantification of SPECT images of the dopamine transporter (DAT) is a correct delineation of the region of interest (ROI). In this study, we primarily compared the reproducibility of the following different approaches for ROI delineation in SPECT images of the DAT: the use of manual delineation (MD) on high-count striatal slides directly on the SPECT image, ROI delineation based on individual MR images (MRD), and oversized striatal ROIs-that is, the striatal volume of interest (SVI), as described previously. We also assessed the ability of the different approaches to identify striatal pathology in patients with parkinsonism.