Increased cerebral blood flow in MELAS shown by Tc-99m HMPAO brain SPECT.
We report cerebral SPECT studies on two siblings with the syndrome of mitochondrial myopathy, encephalopathy, lactic acidosis and stroke-like episodes (MELAS). Tc-99m HMPAO brain SPECT was performed 8, 19 and 30 days after a stroke-like episode in one case and 10 days after a stroke-like episode, 6 h after a partial seizure and as a follow-up study in the other. Increased blood flow was seen in both these patients with stroke-like episodes due to MELAS. The cause of the increased blood flow is uncertain, but it may be related to the decreased pH created by local increase in lactic acid.
Peng
N J
NJ
Department of Nuclear Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, National Yang-Ming University, 201 Sec. 2, Shih-Pai Road, Taipei, Taiwan, 11217, Republic of China.
Liu
R S
RS
Li
J Y
JY
Tsay
D G
DG
Kong
K W
KW
Kwok
C G
CG
Strauss
H W
HW
D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000098:blood supply; D002560:Cerebrovascular Circulation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D017241:MELAS Syndrome / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D020521:Stroke / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology; D019690:Technetium Tc 99m Exametazime; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon
D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D019690:Technetium Tc 99m Exametazime