title: Objective evidence of abnormal regional cerebral blood flow in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus on Tc-99m ECD brain SPECT.
abstract: Technetium-99m ethyl cysteinate dimer (Tc-99m ECD) brain single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) was used to detect abnormal regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in 78 SLE patients with neuropsychiatric manifestations. These patients were separated into two subgroups: group 1 including 48 cases with definite neuropsychiatric symptoms/signs and group 2 with 30 cases having no neuropsychiatric symptoms/signs. Tc-99m ECD brain SPECT demonstrated hypoperfusion brain lesions in 90% and 20% of patients in groups 1 and 2, respectively. In both groups, parietal lobe and cerebellum are the most and least common areas with hypoperfusion lesions, respectively. This study suggests that Tc-99m ECD brain SPECT may provide objective information for detection of hypoperfusion brain lesions in SLE patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, China Medical College Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: W S
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: P Y
authors.initials: PY
authors.lastname: Chiu
authors.forename: C H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Tsai
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kao
authors.forename: C C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002560:Cerebrovascular Circulation / Q000502:physiology; D003545:Cysteine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008180:Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D020945:Lupus Vasculitis, Central Nervous System / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology; D008875:Middle Aged; D015609:Organotechnetium Compounds; D011336:Probability; D011379:Prognosis; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012016:Reference Values; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D015609:Organotechnetium Compounds; C059659:technetium Tc 99m bicisate; D003545:Cysteine