Parkinson's disease and levodopa-induced dyskinesias: a quantitative analysis through Tc-TRODAT-1 SPECT imaging of the brain.

Objective: To compare the dopamine transporter (DAT) density with other risk factors for L-DOPA-induced dyskinesia (LID) in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD), with and without LID.

Materials And Methods: We evaluated 67 subjects: 44 patients with idiopathic PD of varying degrees of severity (PD group), and 23 healthy age-matched volunteers (control group). Among the 44 patients in the PD group, 29 were male and the following means were recorded at baseline: age, 59 ± 7 years; disease duration, 10 ± 6 years; Hoehn and Yahr (H&Y) stage, 2.

Assessment of different regions of interest-based methods for [99mTc]Tc DAT-SPECT quantification using an anthropomorphic striatal phantom.

Background And Aims: Molecular imaging of the dopamine transporters (DAT) provides valuable information about neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson's. This study assessed the accuracy and precision of DAT-SPECT quantification methods.

Methods: Twenty-three DAT-SPECT images of a striatal phantom were acquired.

Reference Values for Dopamine Transporter Imaging With 99m Tc-TRODAT-1 in Healthy Subjects and Parkinson's Disease Patients.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate different quantitative indexes of striatum dopamine transporter density in healthy subjects and patients with PD.

Patients And Methods: Sixty-seven patients, 23 healthy (8 male; 59 ± 11 years old) and 44 age-matched patients (29 male; 59 ± 7 years old), with various degrees of severity of idiopathic PD (duration of symptoms, 10 ± 6 years; Hoehn and Yahr Scale, 2.16 ± 0.

Temporal and spatial changes in cerebral blood flow in neuropsychiatric systemic lupus erythematosus: a subtraction brain spect study.

This study was addressed to evaluate the temporal and spatial changes in regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) of patients with neuropsychiatric systemic lupus erythematosus (NPSLE). Our objective was to correlate the subtracted SPECT coregistered to MRI features (SISCOM) with demographic, clinical and laboratory findings to shed light upon the pathophysiological evolution of the NPSLE. Twenty-six NPSLE patients with MRI and pre- and post-treatment brain SPECT with [99mTc]Tc-ECD.

Regional cerebral blood flow at rest in obesity.

Objectives: Imaging studies have shown brain abnormalities associated with eating behavior (taste perception, food intake, and food reward), neural connectivity, and cognition related to obesity. The aim of this study was to investigate whether obese individuals have changes in regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) during fasting and rest using single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), and whether these differences are associated with body fat and serum levels of leptin, insulin, and glucose.

Methods: For this purpose, rCBF assessed by ([99]Tc)-ECD-SPECT was compared between 10 obese women (30 ± 5 y of age, body fat: 38 ± 3 kg) and 10 lean women (30 ± 6 y of age, body fat: 17 ± 5 kg) using statistical parametric mapping.

The Reperfusion of Ischemic Vasculitis in a Patient with Neuropsychiatric Lupus: A Serial Single-Photon Emission Computed Tomography Study.

We report a 44-year-old female patient diagnosed with neuropsychiatric systemic lupus erythematosus and probable ischemia secondary to vasculitis in the speech motor region (Broca's area). After corticosteroid treatment, the patient recovered the speech, presented clinical improvement, and SISCOM showed reperfusion of the ischemic area (luxury perfusion).

Characterization of resolution, sensitivity, and shielding of a gamma-probe for sentinel lymph node localization: an experimental study.

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate angular, spatial, and energy resolution, sensitivity, and shielding of a gamma-probe.

Materials And Methods: The EUROPROBE II gamma-probe (EuroRad) with sources of technetium-99m was assessed according to NEMA NU-3-2004. Resolution tests were evaluated considering the full width at half maximum (FWHM).

Systematic review of the efficacy in seizure control and safety of neuronavigation in epilepsy surgery: The need for well-designed prospective studies.

Purpose: To evaluate the efficacy of surgery with neuronavigation compared to conventional neurosurgical treatment of epilepsy in terms of safety and seizure outcomes and to assess the quality of the evidence base of neuronavigation in this clinical context.

Method: Systematic review using the electronic databases of Cochrane, CRD, PubMed, Embase, SciELO and LILACS in Portuguese, English and Spanish. The [MeSH] terms included "epilepsy" and "neuronavigation".

Good response of low-fat/high-protein diet in a patient with chyluria.

Unlabelled: Chyluria is an inappropriate urinary excretion of chyle that turns the urine milky. A nutritional approach based on low-fat/high-protein content diet associated or not with medium-chain triglyceride (MCT) showed to be an efficient conservative treatment to improve the milky urine appearance in a patient with chyluria.

Case Report: A 30-year-old female patient was admitted with chyluria of unknown etiology.

Late evaluation of the relationship between morphological and functional renal changes and hypertension after non-operative treatment of high-grade renal injuries.

Objective: To evaluate the anatomical and functional renal alterations and the association with post-traumatic arterial hypertension.

Methods: The studied population included patients who sustained high grades renal injury (grades III to V) successfully non-operative management after staging by computed tomography over a 16-year period. Beyond the review of medical records, these patients were invited to the following protocol: clinical and laboratory evaluation, abdominal computed tomography, magnetic resonance angiography, DMSA renal scintigraphy, and ambulatory blood pressure monitoring.

The neurobiological substrates of behavioral manifestations during temporal lobe seizures: a neuroethological and ictal SPECT correlation study.

Ictal behavior coupled with SPECT findings during 28 seizures in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) with unilateral hippocampal sclerosis (13 left; 15 right) was displayed as flowcharts from right-sided (RTLE) plus left-sided (LTLE) seizures. Ictal SPECT was classified blind to neuroethology. Behaviors were categorized as ipsilateral to the epileptogenic zone (IL), contralateral to the epileptogenic zone (CL), or bilateral.

Ictal technetium-99 m ethyl cysteinate dimer single-photon emission tomographic findings in epileptic patients with polymicrogyria syndromes: a subtraction of ictal-interictal SPECT coregistered to MRI study.

Purpose: To describe the ictal technetium-99 m-ECD SPECT findings in polymicrogyria syndromes (PMG) during epileptic seizures.

Methods: We investigated 17 patients with PMG syndromes during presurgical workup, which included long-term video-electroencephalographic (EEG) monitoring, neurological and psychiatry assessments, invasive EEG, and the subtraction of ictal-interictal SPECT coregistered to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) (SISCOM).

Results: The analysis of the PMG cortex, using SISCOM, revealed intense hyperperfusion in the polymicrogyric lesion during epileptic seizures in all patients.

Neurobiological substrates of electroconvulsive therapy for Tourette syndrome: a Serial SISCOM study.

We report the case of an adult male patient with Tourette syndrome, self-injurious behavior and depression, refractory to conventional treatment, and whose symptoms remitted after electroconvulsive therapy. Serial Technetium 99m-Ethyl-Cysteinate-Dimer single photon emission tomographies were applied, before, during, and after electroconvulsive therapy. The neural substrates of this treatment process were further analyzed by woxel-wise subtracted single photon emission tomography images.

Pontine activation during focal status epilepticus secondary to hamartoma of the floor of the fourth ventricle.

Epileptic seizures associated with hamartoma of the floor of the fourth ventricle (HFFV) are generally resistant to antiepileptic medication, may evolve into status epilepticus, and can respond favorably to surgical therapy. HFFV are rare, and during the neonatal or infantile period may be associated with repetitive and stereotyped attacks of hemifacial spasm, eye blinking, facial movements, head deviation and dysautonomic manifestations. Similarly, to gelastic seizures provoked by hypothalamic hamartomas, it has been suggested that these spells arise from within the HFFV, thus constituting a type of non-cortical seizure.

Interictal SPECT in patients with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy and psychosis: a case-control study.

Psychosis is commonly observed in patients with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy related to hippocampal sclerosis (MTLE-HS). Interictal single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) was performed to compare regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) pattern of MTLE-HS patients with psychosis of epilepsy (POE) comorbidity and MTLE-HS patients without any psychiatric disorders (Control group). For this, 21 patients with POE and 23 Control patients were matched by educational level, clinical, demographic, electrophysiological, and MRI data.

Ictal chronology and interictal spikes predict perfusion patterns in temporal lobe epilepsy: a multivariate study.

Typical (TPP) and atypical (APP) perfusion patterns (PP) may be seen in ictal SPECT of patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). APP may pose problem in the lateralization of the epileptogenic zone (EZ). We aimed to investigate predictive variables for the occurrence of TPP and APP.