[Establishment of a brain perfusion single photon emission computed tomography database in children by statistical imaging analysis].

We made a 3-dimensional, 99mTc-ECD brain perfusion single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) database in children by a statistical analysis. We selected 52 individuals between 1 and 15 years of age whose brain SPECT and brain MRI findings were normal, and divided them into three age groups: 1-5, 6-10 and 11-15 years. By comparing databases obtained for each group, an age-dependent change of regional cerebral blood flow was investigated. The results showed that the relative blood flow increases in the frontal lobe and cerebeller hemisphere and decrease in the occipital lobe with increasing age, findings consistent with those of previous reports. This database enabled us to easily find 3-dimensional brain perfusion abnormality in individual patient by SPECT, and may help elucidate the pathophysiology of many brain disorders.