Dual-isotope single-photon emission computerized tomography scanning in patients with glioblastoma multiforme: association with patient survival and histopathological characteristics of tumor after high-dose radiotherapy.

Object: The study was conducted to determine the association between dual-isotope single-photon emission computerized tomography (SPECT) scanning and histopathological findings of tumor recurrence and survival in patients treated with high-dose radiotherapy for glioblastoma multiforme.

Methods: Studies in which SPECT with 201Tl and 99mTc-hexamethypropyleneamine oxime (HMPAO) were used were performed 1 day before reoperation in 47 patients with glioblastoma multiforme who had previously been treated by surgery and high-dose radiotherapy. Maximum uptake of 201Tl in the lesion was expressed as a ratio to that in the contralateral scalp, and uptake of 99mTc-HMPAO was expressed as a ratio to that in the cerebellar cortex.

Reversible cerebral hypoperfusion in Lyme encephalopathy.

Lyme encephalopathy (LE) presents with subtle neuropsychiatric symptoms months to years after onset of infection with Borrelia burgdorferi. Brain magnetic resonance images are usually normal. We asked whether quantitative single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) is a useful method to diagnose LE, to measure the response to antibiotic therapy, and to determine its neuroanatomic basis.

Neuroimaging in Closed Head Injury.

Closed head injury can be associated with significant neurologic dysfunction. Neuroimaging in this condition consists of conventional techniques such as computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MR), and functional imaging studies such as single photon emission computerized tomography (SPECT) and positron emission tomography (PET). Whereas CT and MR are sufficient to show the acute concomitants of head trauma such as extra-axial hematomas, contusions, and shear injury, functional brain imaging has been shown to play an important role in management of victims of closed head injury, particularly in the chronic stages.

A technetium-99m SPECT imaging agent which targets the dopamine transporter in primate brain.

The dopamine transporter (DAT), located presynaptically on dopamine neurons, provides a marker for certain neurological diseases. In particular, the DAT is depleted in Parkinson's disease, and the extent of depletion correlates with the loss of dopamine. Herein we describe the design, synthesis, and biological evaluation of technepine, the first 99mTc-labeled SPECT imaging agent which targets the dopamine transporter in striatum.

Focal brain dysfunction in a 41-year old man with familial alternating hemiplegia.

The acute pathophysiologic changes during hemiplegic spells and the long-term outcome of alternating hemiplegia remain obscure. In a 41-year-old male with familial alternating hemiplegia we found an increase in right frontal cerebral blood flow 3 h into a 5-h left hemiplegic episode. A repeat high-resolution brain SPECT study performed 26 h after the resolution of the left hemiplegia revealed normalization of the frontal blood flow accompanied by hyperperfusion in the right parietal lobe.