Biological characteristics of a cerebellar mass regrowing after removal in a patient with lhermitte-duclos disease: emission tomography studies.
Lhermitte-Duclos disease is a rare disorder characterized by a slowly enlarging mass in the cerebellum. The exact nature of this lesion remains unclear, but it has been variously characterized as hypertrophy, hamartoma or benign neoplasm. Single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) with (123)I-iomazenil and (99m)Tc-ethyl cysteinate dimer (ECD) display central benzodiazepine receptors that are widely distributed in the normal brain cortex, a combination of brain perfusion, enzymatic activity and blood-brain barrier function, respectively. This report describes the case of a 30-year-old man who developed Lhermitte-Duclos disease. The mass regrew after a subtotal removal 13 years earlier. The cerebellar lesion exhibited hyperperfusion and hypermetabolism on blood flow and a metabolic rate of oxygen imaging on (15)O-gas positron emission tomography (PET), as well as a hyperactivity and a defect in the uptake on (99m)Tc-ECD and (123)I-iomazenil SPECT imaging, respectively. The present Lhermitte-Duclos lesion might have the biological characteristics of both hypertrophy and neoplasm, from the perspective of results from (15)O-gas PET, (99m)Tc-ECD and (123)I-iomazenil SPECT.
Department of Neurosurgery and Cyclotron Research Center, Iwate Medical University, Morioka, Japan.
Hideo
H
Saito
Department of Neurosurgery and Cyclotron Research Center, Iwate Medical University, Morioka, Japan.
Kuniaki
K
Ogasawara
Department of Neurosurgery and Cyclotron Research Center, Iwate Medical University, Morioka, Japan.
Takaaki
T
Beppu
Department of Neurosurgery and Cyclotron Research Center, Iwate Medical University, Morioka, Japan.
Hideki
H
Matsuura
Department of Neurosurgery and Cyclotron Research Center, Iwate Medical University, Morioka, Japan.
Kazunori
K
Terasaki
123I-iomazenil; 15O-gas; 99mTc-ethyl cysteinate dimer; Lhermitte-Duclos disease