Diagnosis of Cerebrovascular Disease Using 99mTc-HMPAO SPECT

ABSTRACT

A new radiopharmaceutical, technetium-99m hexamethylpropyleneamine oxime(99mTc-HMPAO), has been reported to cross the blood-brain-barrier and to distribute in brain in proportion to regional blood flow. Measurement of cerebral blood flow with single photon emixxion computed tomography(SPECT) was performed using 99mTc-HMPO in 46 patients and clinical analysis was done. Decreased regional cerebral perfusion was observed in 41 cases. Moreover eight cases of them who had normal X-ray C-T scan revealed positive finding on SPECT. We porpose that 99mTc-HMPAO SPECT seems to be a useful diagnostic method for evaluation of ischemic cerebral lesions.