Nucl Med Mol Imaging.  2008 Oct;42(5):347-353.

Ipsilateral Cerebral and Contralateral Cerebellar Hyperperfusion in Patients with Unilateral Cerebral Infarction; SPM Analysis

• Hong SP
• Yoon JK
• Choi BH
• Joo IS
• Yoon SN

Abstract

PURPOSE: Cortical reorganization has an important role in the recovery of stroke. We analyzed the compensatory cerebral and cerebellar perfusion change in patients with unilateral cerebral infarction using statistical parametric mapping (SPM).
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Fifty seven (99m)Tc-Ethylene Cystein Diethylester (ECD) cerebral perfusion SPECT images of 57 patients (male/female=38/19, mean age=56+/-17 years) with unilateral cerebral infarction were evaluated retrospectively. Patients were divided into subgroups according to the location (left, right) and the onset (acute, chronic) of infarction. Each subgroup was compared with normal controls (male/female=11/1, mean age=36+/-10 years) in a voxel-by-voxel manner (two sample t-test, p<0.001) using SPM.
RESULTS
All 4 subgroups showed hyperperfusion in the ipsilateral cerebral cortex, but not in the contralateral cerebral cortex. Chronic left and right infarction groups revealed hyperperfusion in the ipsilateral primary sensorimotor cortex, meanwhile, acute subgroups did not. Contralateral cerebellar hyperperfusion was also demonstrated in the chronic left infarction group.
CONCLUSION
Using (99m)Tc-ECD SPECT, we observed ipsilateral cerebral and contralateral cerebeller hyperperfusion in patients with cerebral infarction. However, whether these findings are related to the recovery of cerebral functions should be further evaluated.

Keyword

(99m)Tc-ECD perfusion SPECT; cerebral infarction; statistical parametric mapping; functional recovery

MeSH Terms

Cerebral Cortex
Cerebral Infarction
Humans
Infarction
Perfusion
Retrospective Studies
Stroke
Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon