Correlation analysis of 11C-CFT PET/CT parameters with clinical characteristics of patients with early to mid-stage Parkinson’s disease

This study aims to explore the correlation between 11C-CFT PET/CT imaging parameters and clinical characteristics of PD patients. This study retrospectively included 69 PD patients and 10 healthy controls who had undergone 11C-CFT imaging to analyze the correlation between 11C-CFT imaging parameters and clinical features. The PD patients were divided into TD and PIGD groups based on the TD/PIGD score ratio, and H-Y stage 1–2 and H-Y stage 2.5-3 groups according to the H-Y stage. The differences in 11C-CFT parameters were compared between the groups. After FDR correction for 160 statistical tests, a strong negative correlation was identified between age and both the volume (r = -0.471, q < 0.01) and surface area (r = -0.474, q < 0.01) of the caudate nucleus. While several correlations between imaging parameters and clinical scores (e.g., UPDRS, bradykinesia) were observed at the nominal significance level (uncorrected P < 0.05), none of these associations remained statistically significant after FDR correction. The most robust finding of this study is a significant age-related decline in caudate nucleus morphology in early to mid-stage PD. After rigorous statistical correction for multiple comparisons, no other significant correlations were found between dopaminergic PET/CT parameters and clinical scores.