Cerebellar vasoreactivity in stroke patients with crossed cerebellar diaschisis assessed by acetazolamide and 99mTc-HMPAO SPECT.
Crossed cerebellar diaschisis (CCD) tends to persist or even worsen after supratentorial infarction. Several studies have shown impairment of cerebral vasomotor responsiveness in the hemispheric area of diaschisis in patients with hemispheric infarction. This finding has led to the concern that the lack of CCD reversibility might be associated with chronic circulatory abnormalities. We therefore assessed the vasoreactivity in the cerebellar hemisphere in which diaschisis is manifested using acetazolamide (ACZ) and SPECT.


METHODS
Eight stroke patients with CCD (5 with unilateral hemispheric infarcts and 3 with unilateral intracerebral hemorrhage) had 99mTc-HMPAO SPECT scanning at rest and 20 min after intravenous injection of 1.0 g ACZ. The time interval after stroke ranged from 25 to 904 d. From the total counts obtained from each cerebellar hemisphere, the asymmetry index (AI) was calculated as (unaffected - affected cerebellar hemisphere)/unaffected cerebellar hemisphere x100.


RESULTS
After ACZ, the mean AI (8.7+/-6.6) was significantly decreased (P<0.05) compared with that at rest (17.7+/-5.8). Seven of the 8 patients showed decrease in the AI after ACZ. In 1 patient, the direction of the asymmetry was reversed after ACZ so that the AI was negative. The ACZ-induced change in the AI did not show a significant correlation with the time interval after stroke, whether calculated in absolute terms or as a percentage change.


CONCLUSIONS
This study shows that normal vascular supply is maintained in the CCD-affected cerebellar hemisphere over long periods of time after a stroke. Thus, the lack of CCD reversibility may not be attributed to a chronic circulatory insufficiency. The results lend support to the concept of functional deactivation and subsequent transneuronal degeneration as a likely explanation for CCD. It is unclear whether decreased AI after ACZ indicates a higher vascular response of the affected cerebellar hemisphere than that of the normal side.
Kim
S E
SE
Department of Nuclear Medicine, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Lee
M C
MC
D000086:Acetazolamide; D002560:Cerebrovascular Circulation / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D020521:Stroke / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology; D019690:Technetium Tc 99m Exametazime; D013997:Time Factors; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon
D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D019690:Technetium Tc 99m Exametazime; D000086:Acetazolamide