Ms L: a case of a reversible phenotypic and brain function equivalent of frontotemporal dementia.

Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is second only to Alzheimer's disease in individuals younger than 65 years of age. Behavioral variant FTD (bvFTD) presents with nonspecific symptoms such as disinhibition, apathy, or emotional blunting. Although neuropsychological testing and structural neuroimaging are not very helpful in diagnosing bvFTD in its initial stages, newer quantitative structural methods and functional neuroimaging have better sensitivity and specificity.

SPECT brain imaging in chronic Lyme disease.

Objectives: Lyme disease is an infectious disease that frequently involves the central nervous system, leading to cognitive and/or mood dysfunction. The basis for these symptoms remains to be defined but may be the result of a vasculitis or metabolic abnormality secondary to the infection. SPECT scans of the brain might provide an objective measure of abnormalities present in patients with otherwise difficult to objectify clinical findings.

A study comparing SPECT and MRI in patients with anosmia after traumatic brain injury.

Purpose: The initial or first clinical presentation of altered sensation of smell is directly linked to the degree of impaired sensitivity. We took the opportunity to examine normal and nonspecific MRI findings in 6 patients with known anosmia after traumatic brain injury with perfusion SPECT brain imaging.

Material And Methods: Patients included those with primary loss of smell after head injury.

Migration of Tc-99m DTPA from the cerebral ventricle to the subarachnoid space.

A 70-year-old woman was examined because of increasing problems with cognition. She had a history of a cerebral shunt placed surgically 10 years previously. Introduction of Tc-99m DTPA directly into the ventricular cavity revealed good ventricular distribution, followed by progression downward, as though into a previous ventriculoperitoneal shunt.