Slowly progressive limb-kinetic apraxia with a decrease in unilateral cerebral blood flow.
We report two patients with slowly progressive motor disorders, whose principal manifestations were asymmetric limb-kinetic apraxia and muscle rigidity. In both patients MRI revealed no responsible lesion, whereas single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) showed a decrease in cerebral blood flow (CBF) in the unilateral hemisphere. One patient with mainly right-sided apraxia had a decreased CBF in the left central region between the frontal and parietal cortices, and the other patient with left-sided apraxia in the right parietal cortex. In agreement with asymmetric clinical symptoms, the regional CBF decrease in the unilateral cortical areas including the frontal and parietal cortices may suggest a degenerative disease, presumably diagnosed as having cortico-basal degeneration.
Okuda
B
B
Fifth Department of Internal Medicine, Hyogo College of Medicine, Japan.
Tachibana
H
H
Kawabata
K
K
Takeda
M
M
Sugita
M
M
D000368:Aged; D001072:Apraxias / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002545:Brain Ischemia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004292:Dominance, Cerebral / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000098:blood supply*; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009460:Neurologic Examination; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000098:blood supply*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon