Models for the PET quantitative imaging of the adenosine receptor radioligand [11C] SCH442416 in humans

Positron Emission Tomography is an important imaging technique, that enables regional function to be assayed in a fully quantitative and noninvasive manner. It is based on the use of radioactive tracers: [11C]SCH442416, which is the compound of interest in our work, seems to be the first tracer suitable for in vivo imaging of adenosine A2A receptors and it seems to be able to diagnose the Parkinson’s disease. Starting from the results of a general approach, known in PET area as “Spectral Analysis”, we proposed the best compartmental model to describe the kinetic of the tracer inside the brain. Moreover we estimated some parameters of interest, even if the small number of subjects involved in the study do not allow many comparisons between the different patients