Cerebral blood flow abnormalities in cerebral palsied children with a normal CT scan.
Cerebral palsy (CP) is often a consequence of a hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy and/or intracerebral hemorrhage secondary to pre- and peri-natal asphyxia. Hypodense lesions on the CT-scan are found in about 70 to 80% of CP-patients. In the present study, regional cerebral blood flow (CBF) was measured in CP-patients having a normal CT-scan. The aim was to correlate the CBF changes with the clinical and the etiologic findings. CBF was measured by xenon-133 inhalation and single photon emission computer tomography. The mean CBF value in 20 CP-patients, age 6-19 years, was 67 +/- 11 (1 SD) ml/100g/min, the same value as found in the 9 normal children. However, 16 of the 20 CP-patients had focal hypoperfused areas on the tomographic flow map. In the preterm infants (n = 7) the hypoperfused areas were mainly located in the posterior watershed areas, often in one hemisphere only. In the term infants (n = 13) both asymmetrical and symmetrical hypoperfused areas were observed in the anterior and posterior watershed areas. In addition, several children had larger low flow areas in the frontal and fronto-parietal lobes. In both groups, a relatively poor concordance was observed between the clinical findings and the expected location of the low flow area.
Taudorf
K
K
Department of Pediatrics, State University Hospital, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Vorstrup
S
S
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity; D002547:Cerebral Palsy / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002560:Cerebrovascular Circulation; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007234:Infant, Premature; D008297:Male; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed