Findings of Semiquantitative Analysis of 99mTc-HMPAO Brain SPECT in Cerebral Palsy

ABSTRACT

It is often difficult, on the basis of clinical examination and conventional investigations, to evaluate the functional impairment of brain in children with cerebral palsy in which early detection remains a challenge. This study was designed to know the usefulness of single photon emission tomography(SPECT) of the brain with technetium-99 m hexamethylpropyleneamineoxime (99mTc-HMPAO) as a semiquantitative method of determination of right-left asymmetries in tracer uptake and a change in antero-posterior regional cerebral blood flow(rCBF) distribution. We investigated 33 children with cerebral palsy aged from 4 months to 48 months(mean 19.3 months). The results were as follows right to left ratio and regional index of a transverse view were useful to quantify the decrease of tracer uptake in left hemiplegia, but not in right hemiplegia who were all mild in severity, and in tetra- and diplegia in which cerebral lesions were found bilaterally; cortico-cerebellar ratios of a sagittal view were found useful to detect a decrease of rCBF distribution in tetra- and diplegia ,which was not distinct by means of right to left ratio and regional index on transverse view. The results suggest that semiquantitative analysis of 99mTc-HMPAO Brain SPECT would be a valuable complementary tool for determination of topographical involvement in cerebral palsy.