Population-based Brain Mapping and Application

Dong Soo Lee, M.D., Ph.D.

Department of Nuclear Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, 110-744 Korea, Tel 82-2-2072-2501 Fax 82-2-745-7690

e-mail: dsl@plaza.snu.ac.kr

We developed population-based brain atlas for quantification of functional neuroimages. We successfully applied our methods to quantify and analyze PET and SPECT data of patients with cortical deafness, epilepsy, and dementia. Using metabolic imaging of FDG PET and population-based anatomical map, neuroplasticity before and after cochlear implantation was understood to suggest the predictive role of neuroimaging in deaf subjects. Brain perfusion SPECT with or without aceatazolamide challenge yielded the information regarding neurovascular coupling in addition to diagnosing ictal onset zones in epilepsy patients. As for dementia, degenerating neurons and neurmetabolic/ neurovascular compromise was properly evaluated on perfusion SPECT and FDG PET.

Population-based brain mapping successfully applied to the clinical situation will open an era of clinical individual application of neuroscience knowledges.