Rinsho Shinkeigaku (Clinical Neurology)

Brief Clinical Note

Regional cerebral blood flow measured by three-dimensional stereotactic surface projections (3D-SSP) of 123I-IMP SPECT in Parkinson disease patients with cognitive impairment

Toshiyuki Sakai, M.D.1) and Shigeki Kuzuhara, M.D.2)

1)Department of Neurology, Saiseikai Matsusaka General Hospital
2)Department of Neurology, Mie University School of Medicine

We investigated the regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in 8 patients with Parkinson disease (PD) with cognitive impairment (age; 64∼82 years, Mini-Mental State Examination score=MMSE score; 22∼6 points, Yahr stage; III∼V), with the standard transaxial images and the Z-score images using the three-dimensional stereotactic surface projections (3D-SSP) of 123I-IMP SPECT. A contrast database was created by averaging extracted database sets of the contrast group (numbers; 14 cases, age; 64∼82 years, MMSE score; ≥29 points). The regions of the perfusion reduction shown on the standard transaxial images were similarly demonstrated on the Z-score images in 6 of the 8 patients, and only the Z-score images demonstrated definite regions of perfusion reduction in remaining 2 patients. Both the standard transaxial and Z-score images demonstrated the perfusion reduction in the temporo-parietal regions in all of the patients, and the Z-score images but not the standard transaxial ones detected the reduction in the posteror cingulate gyrus and precuneus in 3 patients. 3D-SSP images of 123I-IMP SPECT are thus more sensitive in detecting rCBF of the medial aspect of the parietal cortex than the standard transaxial images, and can be used as a diagnostic tool to objectively evaluate the cognitive function of PD patients.

(CLINICA NEUROL, 43: 183|187, 2003)
key words: Parkinson disease, cognitive impairment, SPECT, rCBF, 3D-SSP

(Received: 7-Aug-02)