Effect of white matter hyperintensity on dopamine transporter availability of striatum measured by F-18 FP-CIT PET

Purpose We aimed to evaluate the white matter hyperintensity (WMH) effect on dopamine transporter availability (DAT) of striatum. Materials and methods A total of 48 patients who showed visually normal F-18 FP-CIT uptake were included in this study. Each FP-CIT image were pre-processed using SPM12. Co-registration and spatial normalization of FP-CIT image conducted using T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). And then smoothing of normalized FP-CIT image was performed. Intensity normalization was performed using cerebellum as a reference region. With pre-defined volume of interest template, the specific binding ratio (SBR) of both side of caudate nucleus and putamen was calculated. Fluid attenuated inversion recovery MRI scans were used to evaluate WMH number and volume. Results SBRs of left and right caudate nucleus were correlated with age ( r = − 0.615; p < 0.0001; n = 48, r = − 0.607; p < 0.0001; n = 48, respectively), high density lipoprotein cholesterol ( r = 0.296; p = 0.041; n = 48, r = 0.29; p = 0.0455; n = 48, respectively), and WMH number ( r = − 0.459; p = 0.001; n = 48, r = − 0.481; p = 0.0005; n = 48, respectively) and volume ( r = − 0.407; p = 0.0041; n = 48, r = − 0.428; p = 0.0024; n = 48, respectively). Conclusion DAT availability of patients who showed visually normal F-18 FP-CIT uptake was correlated with number and volume of WMH.