Perfusion brain scintigraphy studies in infants and children with malformations of the vein of Galen.
Cerebral perfusion brain scintigraphy obtained in six unselected patients (age newborn to 14 years) from among 50 children with vein of Galen malformations was used in conjunction with magnetic resonance imaging to determine the basis of the neurological and cognitive abnormalities in patients with vein of Galen malformations (VGMs). Five had a hemiparesis - persistent, transient, or alternating. Four were developmentally delayed. Two had so far been cognitively normal and acquired a neurological deficit, following an embolization procedure. The school age patient had a nonverbal learning disability. Three had epilepsy and/or an abnormal electroencephalogram. Magnetic resonance imaging documented only the VGM, hydrocephalus and atrophy; one child with perinatal asphyxia had periventricular leukomalacia. Perfusion brain scintigraphy was normal in two (a normal infant, and a toddler with a hemiparesis and aphasia). Abnormal findings included: left parietal hypoperfusion, fronto-temporal atrophy, patchy flow; left fronto-temporal hypoperfusion, left hemiatrophy, bilateral medial temporal hypoperfusion, right cerebellar hypoperfusion; right temporal hypoperfusion, patchy flow; right hemiatrophy, occipital hypoperfusion. Perfusion brain scintigraphy findings correlated better with focal neurological and cognitive defects than did magnetic resonance imaging.
Nass
R
R
Pediatric Neurology, New York University Medical Center, NY 10016, USA. ruth.nass@nyu.edu
Kramer
E
E
Molofsky
W
W
Melnick
J
J
de Hollisey
M
M
Madrid
M
M
Wisoff
J H
JH
Berenstein
A
A
D000293:Adolescent; D001921:Brain / Q000098:blood supply*; D001925:Brain Damage, Chronic / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D002550:Cerebral Veins / Q000002:abnormalities* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002658:Developmental Disabilities / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D004292:Dominance, Cerebral / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D002538:Intracranial Arteriovenous Malformations / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging; D012039:Regional Blood Flow / Q000502:physiology; D019690:Technetium Tc 99m Exametazime
D019690:Technetium Tc 99m Exametazime