Evaluation of regional cerebral blood flow with 99mTc-HMPAO in primary antiphospholipid antibody syndrome.
In this study, 99mTc-hexamethyl propyleneamine oxime (HMPAO) SPECT was used to evaluate the regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) of the brain in patients with primary antiphospholipid antibody syndrome (PAPS).


METHODS
Twenty-two women who were PAPS patients, aged 28-60 y, with mild neuropsychiatric manifestations and normal brain MRI findings were enrolled in this study. Brain HMPAO SPECT was performed to detect brain abnormalities. Meanwhile, serum anticardiolipin antibodies (ACA) and lupus anticoagulant (LA) were measured.


RESULTS
HMPAO SPECT revealed hypoperfusion lesions in 16 of 22 (73%) PAPS patients. Cerebral cortex and cerebellum were the most and the least commonly involved areas, respectively. Eighteen of 22 (82%) and 14 of 22 (64%) patients had positive ACA and positive LA, respectively. ACA and LA results were related to HMPAO SPECT findings.


CONCLUSIONS
HMPAO SPECT is a sensitive tool for detecting brain abnormalities in PAPS patients with only mild neuropsychiatric manifestations and normal brain MRI findings.
Kao
C H
CH
Department of Nuclear Medicine, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taiwan.
Lan
J L
JL
Hsieh
J F
JF
Ho
Y J
YJ
ChangLai
S P
SP
Lee
J K
JK
Ding
H J
HJ
D000328:Adult; D016736:Antiphospholipid Syndrome / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology; D001921:Brain / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D002560:Cerebrovascular Circulation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D019965:Neurocognitive Disorders / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000209:etiology; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D019690:Technetium Tc 99m Exametazime; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon
D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D019690:Technetium Tc 99m Exametazime