Table 3.

The utility of each imaging technique for SCAs

Utility	Method
Differentiating symptomatic SCA patients from healthy controls	MRI [42–50, 52–54, 56, 60, 61] MRS [42, 61–65, 124–129, 134–137] PET [45, 58, 67–72] SPECT [47, 74–76, 131–133]
Differentiating presymptomatic SCA patients from healthy controls	MRI: SCA2 [43], SCA17 [45] PET: SCA3 [71], SCA17 [45]
Differentiating presymptomatic SCA patients from symptomatic SCA patients	MRI: SCA2 [43], SCA17 [45] PET: SCA3 [71], SCA17 [45]
Differentiating different SCA subtypes	MRI [42, 44, 48, 54, 58] MRS [42, 62, 126, 127, 129, 134, 136, 138] PET [48, 51, 58, 68, 69, 130]
Differentiating SCA patients with mild ataxia from severe ataxia	MRI [46, 49, 54, 59, 60] PET [51]