Increased perfusion in motor areas after constraint-induced movement therapy in chronic stroke: a single-photon emission computerized tomography study.

Hemiparesis is the most common deficit after cerebral stroke. Constraint-induced movement therapy (CIMT) is a new neurorehabilitation method that emphasizes task-relevant repetitive training for the stroke hand. Twelve chronic stroke patients were studied with single-photon emission computerized tomography at rest before and after the two-week CIMT period.

123I-beta-CIT binding and recovery from depression. A six-month follow-up study.

Eighteen depressive outpatients were investigated using single-photon emission computerized tomography (SPECT) with a high-affinity dopamine (DA) and serotonin transporter (SERT) specific radioligand, (123)I-labeled beta-CIT (2 beta-carbomethoxy-3 beta-(4-iodophenyl)-tropane). The patients were tested at the beginning of the study and on follow-up after six months. The severity of depression was evaluated using the 17-item Hamilton Rating Scale of Depression (HRSD).

First-pass MR imaging in the assessment of perfusion impairment in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and the Asp175Asn mutation of the alpha-tropomyosin gene.

Purpose: To assess first-pass magnetic resonance (MR) imaging in the evaluation of perfusion impairment in a genetically homogeneous population of patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) and the Asp175Asn mutation of the alpha-tropomyosin gene and to evaluate the association between hypertrophy and perfusion.

Materials And Methods: Rest-stress first-pass MR imaging with gadopentetate dimeglumine was performed in 17 patients with HCM and the Asp175Asn substitution in the alpha-tropomyosin gene and in five control subjects. Global and segmental first-pass reserve index (FPR) measurements were derived from signal intensity versus time curves.