Retrospective Data-Driven Motion Correction of 18F-FDG Brain PET

A 51-year-old man with severe multifactorial neurocognitive disorders subsequent to delirium, benzodiazepine withdrawal, and preexisting psychiatric illness was referred for F-18-FDG PET/CT brain imaging in order to rule out an underlying neurodegenerative cause of the symptoms, particularly frontotemporal lobar degeneration. Imaging was impaired by severe motion artifacts, leading to a false-positive result. However, utilizing retrospective data-driven motion correction facilitated a change in diagnosis, ruling out the presence of neurodegenerative disease. The implementation of motion correction of the F-18-FDG PET dataset proved crucial for the patient, as the exclusion of frontotemporal lobar degeneration formed the basis for continuing psychiatric and psychotherapeutic treatment.