Yonsei Med J.  1989 Jun;30(2):151-157. 10.3349/ymj.1989.30.2.151.

Thalamic syndrome and cortical hypoperfusion on technetium-99m HM-PAO brain SPECT

• Lee MS
• Choi IS
• Chung TS

• KMID: 693175
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3349/ymj.1989.30.2.151

Abstract

The six patients included in this study had painful dysesthesia, resulting from vascular lesions in or near the thalamus, confirmed by computerized tomography(CT) brain scan. Using hexamethyl propyleneamine oxime(HM-PAO) single photon emission computed tomography(SPECT) brain scanning, regional cerebral perfusion(rCP) was demonstrated. In contrast to three patients with lesions near the thalamus who showed symmetrical cortical radioactivity, the other three patients with thalamic lesions revealed decreased rCP in the ipsilateral cerebral cortex on HM-PAO brain SPECT. We thought that the loss of afferent activating stimuli from the thalamus led to decreased cortical neuronal activity and the following hypoperfusion. In patients with thalamic syndrome resulting from thalamic lesions, the role of the remote effect of the thalamic damage and consequent cortical deregulation in the development of thalamic pain and/or neuropsychological symptoms cannot be excluded completely.

Keyword

Thalamic syndrome; HM-PAO brain SPECT; cortical hypoperfusion

MeSH Terms

Brain/*radionuclide imaging
Female
Human
Male
Middle Age
Organotechnetium Compounds
Oximes
Pain/etiology
Syndrome
Technetium/diagnostic use
Technetium Tc 99m Exametazime
Thalamic Diseases/*radionuclide imaging
Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon