Abnormal regional cerebral blood flow on 99mTc ECD brain SPECT in patients with primary Sjögren's syndrome and normal findings on brain magnetic resonance imaging.
OBJECTIVE
Technetium-99m ethyl cysteinate dimer (99mTc ECD) single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) of the brain was used to detect abnormal regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in patients with primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS) and normal findings on brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).


METHODS
(99m)Tc ECD brain SPECT was performed to detect brain lesions showing hypoperfusion in 32 female patients with pSS and definite neuropsychiatric symptoms or signs. Seventeen female patients with pSS without neuropsychiatric symptoms and signs were included as a control group for comparison. All of the 49 patients with pSS had normal findings on brain MRI.


RESULTS
99mTc ECD brain SPECT showed brain regions with hypoperfusion in 18 (56.3%) of the 32 patients, and parietal lobes were the most common areas with such lesions. By contrast, 99mTc ECD brain SPECT showed brain regions with hypoperfusion in only three (17.6%) of the 17 patients with pSS without neuropsychiatric symptoms or signs.


CONCLUSIONS
This study suggests that 99mTc ECD SPECT is a sensitive tool for detecting regions of hypoperfusion in the brains of patients with pSS and neuropsychiatric symptoms or signs and normal findings on brain MRI. However, a review of the literature showed that the (99m)Tc ECD SPECT findings in patients with pSS were non-specific.
Chang
C P
CP
Division of Allergy, Immunology, and Rheumatology, Changhua Christian Hospital, Changhua, Taiwan.
Shiau
Y C
YC
Wang
J J
JJ
Ho
S T
ST
Kao
A
A
D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000098:blood supply / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002560:Cerebrovascular Circulation; D003545:Cysteine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008875:Middle Aged; D015609:Organotechnetium Compounds; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D012039:Regional Blood Flow; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012859:Sjogren's Syndrome / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon
D015609:Organotechnetium Compounds; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; C059659:technetium Tc 99m bicisate; D003545:Cysteine