title: Cerebral infarction: diagnosis and assessment of prognosis by using 123IMP-SPECT and CT.
abstract: A multicenter prospective study was performed in 49 patients with 77 regions of cerebral infarction. Each patient was evaluated in the acute (0-5 days) and subacute (6-17 days) phases by (1) clinical neurologic examination, (2) CT scans, and (3) N-isopropyl-p-123I-iodoamphetamine (123IMP) single-photon emission CT (SPECT) scans. The abilities of the scans to (1) detect a lesion and (2) predict the clinical outcome were assessed. For lesion detection, 123IMP-SPECT was superior to CT in the first 2 days, but the scans were equally effective 3-5 days after onset. In the subacute phase, IV contrast-enhanced CT was superior to 123IMP-SPECT and unenhanced CT. The clinical outcome was only mildly correlated with the results of the acute and subacute 123IMP-SPECT and the acute CT scans. Reduction in lesion size on the subacute scans did not correlate with clinical improvement. We conclude that the parameters measured by CT and 123IMP-SPECT in patients with acute cerebral infarction cannot reliably be used to predict clinical outcome. 124I contamination of 123IMP and the use of low-energy collimators may have decreased lesion detectability.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Baylor College of Medicine, Texas Medical Center, Houston 77030.
authors.forename: L A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Hayman
authors.forename: K H
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Taber
authors.forename: S G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Jhingran
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Killian
authors.forename: R G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Carroll
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002544:Cerebral Infarction / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015337:Multicenter Studies as Topic; D011379:Prognosis; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013997:Time Factors; D014055:Tomography, Emission-Computed; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed