Methodological Review on Functional Neuroimaging Using Positron Emission Tomography

Advance of neuroimaging technique has greatly influenced recent brain research field. Among various neuroimaging modalities, positron emission tomography has played a key role in molecular neuroimaging though functional MRI has taken over its role in the cognitive neuroscience. As the analysis technique for PET data is more sophisticated, the complexity of the method is more increasing. Despite the wide usage of the neuroimaging techniques, the assumption and limitation of procedures have not often been dealt with for the clinician and researchers, which might be critical for reliability and interpretation of the results. In the current paper, steps of voxel-based statistical analysis of PET including preprocessing, intensity normalization, spatial normalization, and partial volume correction will be revisited in terms of the principles and limitations. Additionally, new image analysis techniques such as surface-based PET analysis, correlational analysis and multimodal imaging by combining PET and DTI, PET and TMS or EEG will also be discussed.ope