[Consensus recommendations on regional interdisciplinary standardization of MRI diagnostics for multiple sclerosis in the metropolitan area of Essen]. / Konsensusempfehlungen zur regionalen fächerübergreifenden Standardisierung der MRT-Diagnostik bei Multipler Sklerose im Großraum Essen.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is of exceptional importance in the diagnostics and monitoring of multiple sclerosis (MS); however, a close interdisciplinary cooperation between neurologists in private practice, (neuro)radiological practices, hospitals or specialized MS centers is only rarely established. In particular, there is a lack of standardized MRI protocols for image acquisition as well as established quality parameters, which guarantee the comparability of MRI records; however, this is a fundamental prerequisite for an effective application of MRI in the treatment of MS patients, e.g., for making the diagnosis or treatment monitoring. To address these challenges a group of neurologists and (neuro)radiologists developed a consensus proposal for standardization of image acquisition, interpretation and transmission of results and for improvement in interdisciplinary cooperation. This pilot project in the metropolitan area of Essen used a modified Delphi process and was based on the most up to date scientific knowledge. The recommendation takes the medical, economic, temporal and practical aspects of MRI in MS into consideration. The model of interdisciplinary cooperation between radiologists and neurologists with the aim of a regional standardization of MRI could serve as an example for other regions of Germany in order to optimize MRI for MS.

The dopamine D2 receptor ligand 18F-desmethoxyfallypride: an appropriate fluorinated PET tracer for the differential diagnosis of parkinsonism.

For therapeutic and prognostic reasons it is important to differentiate between idiopathic parkinsonian syndrome (IPS, Parkinson's disease) and atypical parkinsonian syndromes (APS) like multiple system atrophy or progressive supranuclear palsy. Whereas IPS patients usually show a normal or upregulated postsynaptic dopamine D2 receptor profile, APS patients present decreased postsynaptic tracer binding. The aim of this prospective study was to evaluate the D2 receptor antagonist fluorine-18 desmethoxyfallypride (18F-DMFP), a recently developed positron emission tomography (PET) tracer with better clinical availability than carbon-11 raclopride, for the differential diagnosis of IPS versus APS. The study included 16 healthy control subjects and 35 patients with clinically diagnosed parkinsonism (16 IPS patients, 19 APS patients). All patients underwent PET imaging after injection of 180-200 MBq 18F-DMFP. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses were performed in order to assess the diagnostic performance of 18F-DMFP PET. We found the striatal 18F-DMFP uptake ratio to be significantly (P<0.01) reduced in the APS patients (2.44+/-0.42) compared with the healthy control subjects (3.61+/-0.43) and the IPS patients (3.21+/-0.78), whereas the uptake ratios of the IPS patients and the control subjects did not differ significantly. For the differential diagnosis of APS versus IPS, the ROC analysis of caudate 18F-DMFP binding showed a specificity, sensitivity and accuracy of 100%, 74% and 86%, respectively, as well as positive and negative predictive values of 100% and 76%, respectively. Based on these first clinical results, we consider 18F-DMFP to be an appropriate PET tracer for the differential diagnosis of parkinsonian syndromes, with the advantage of better clinical availability than 11C-labelled D2 radioligands.