Regional cerebral blood flow by SPECT imaging in Sturge-Weber disease: an aid for diagnosis

J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 1989 Dec;52(12):1402-9. doi: 10.1136/jnnp.52.12.1402.

Abstract

Regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) was studied using SPECT (single photon emission computed tomography) with 133-Xenon in 13 patients with confirmed Sturge-Weber disease, aged 9 months to 18 years. CT scan, performed at the same time, showed evident cerebral angioma in 10 but not in three. A marked hypoperfused area was found in all patients, ranging from -32% to -72% and of the same location as the CT signs. The hypoperfusion seems to result from post ictal phenomenon as well as from chronic ischaemia. SPECT imaging is therefore a sensitive method for visualising intracranial angioma in Sturge-Weber disease and it provides an aid for diagnosis when a CT scan is not reliable.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Angiomatosis / diagnosis*
  • Brain Ischemia / etiology
  • Brain Ischemia / physiopathology*
  • Cerebrovascular Circulation*
  • Child
  • Child, Preschool
  • Diagnosis, Differential
  • Epilepsy / complications
  • Epilepsy / physiopathology
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Infant
  • Male
  • Sturge-Weber Syndrome / diagnosis*
  • Sturge-Weber Syndrome / physiopathology
  • Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon*
  • Tomography, X-Ray Computed