THE VALUE OF SPET IMAGING IN DEMENTIA

This review critically evaluates the current role of single photon emi ssion tomography (SPET) imaging in the clinical management of patients with dementia. The classification of the dementias is discussed and t he clinical and pathological features of the various dementing illness es are described. Typical appearances on cerebral blood flow imaging a re presented for each of the conditions, together with the findings on D-2 dopaminergic receptor and muscarinic receptor imaging where this is relevant. The review concludes with a section on the clinical value of SPET imaging in dementia. SPET imaging can make a valuable contrib ution to the accurate clinical differentiation of dementia, providing findings are interpreted in the light of neurological evaluation and s tructural imaging. The possible future role of SPET imaging in the pre diction and evaluation of response to future therapeutic agents is dis cussed.