Prospective evaluation of malignant middle cerebral artery infarction with blood-brain barrier imaging using Tc-99m DTPA SPECT.
BACKGROUND
Malignant middle cerebral artery (MMCA) infarction is associated with severe brain edema which may lead to a rapid deterioration of consciousness, increase of intracranial pressure, brain midline shift and finally, herniation. We examined the correlation between the degree of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) permeability and MMCA.


METHODS
Twenty-five consecutive patients (17 men and 8 women, mean age 62.1+/-10.1) were included in the study. Each patient had a daily clinical examination, and the neurological deficits were scored using NIHSS score. A CT without contrast material was performed in all patients. (99m)Tc-DTPA SPECT was performed at 36 h after the stroke. A quantitative index of BBB breakdown (disruption index) was calculated.


RESULTS
The mean volume of stroke was 138+/-87 cm(3). The mean DTPA disruption index was 6.6+/-4.6 (range 1.0-21.0). The mean NIHSS score was 14+/-4 (p=0.2). Five of 25 patients had brain herniation as evidenced on brain CT. The volume of stroke was only marginally elevated in patients with herniation (p=0.062). All patients showed significant, inverse correlation between NIHSS score and DTPA uptake (r=-0.43, p=0.033). There was a significant correlation between the extent of DTPA distribution (more than one vascular territory) and the occurrence of herniation (p<0.001).


CONCLUSIONS
DTPA-SPECT imaging is a reliable complementary predictive tool in patients with an MCA stroke. The specific pattern found on DTPA SPECT, compatible with diffuse BBB disruption, may be of value in predicting "malignant MCA."
Lampl
Yair
Y
Department of Neurology of the Edith Wolfson Medical Center, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
Sadeh
Menachem
M
Lorberboym
Mordechai
M
D000368:Aged; D001812:Blood-Brain Barrier / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D020244:Infarction, Middle Cerebral Artery / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D016284:Technetium Tc 99m Pentetate; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon
D016284:Technetium Tc 99m Pentetate