This article forms part of our 'Tests and results' series for 2013, which aims to provide information about common tests that general practitioners order regularly. It considers areas such as indications, what to tell the patient, what the test can and cannot tell you, and interpretation of the results.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Patients with internal carotid artery (ICA) occlusion can demonstrate impaired cerebral vascular reserve (CVR). The detection of CVR using single photon emission CT (SPECT) is nowadays widely accepted as a predictor in the diagnostic pathway in patients considered for cerebral revascularization. Recently perfusion CT (PCT) gained widely acceptance in stroke imaging. The p...

Multiphase arterial spin labeling (ASL), which obtains the imaged slices with various postlabeling delays, allows for the noninvasive assessment of cerebral hemodynamics that cannot be adequately acquired by single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) imaging. We describe the clinical usefulness of multiphase ASL in a patient with symptomatic carotid stenosis by comparison with SPECT at ...

We studied a 79-year-old woman within 3 h of the onset of a motor aphasia and a right hemiparesis. Single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) showed a 24% decrease in the perfusion of the left middle cerebral artery territory and a 16% reduction in the perfusion of the right cerebellum. A mild naming difficulty was the neurological deficit at the end of the SPECT examination, and comple...

The indication of carotid endarterectomy (CEA) is principally determined by the presence or absence of symptoms and the degree of stenosis. However, the results of recent studies have implicated the usefulness of cerebral hemodynamics imaging for perioperative assessments. Many studies using single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) have demonstrated that cerebral hemodynamics imaging ...

BACKGROUND The pathophysiological nature of Sydenham chorea (SC) has been presumed to be an autoimmune-mediated inflammatory process. Positron emission tomography in SC has revealed a striatal hypermetabolism that might explain the transient neuronal dysfunction. However, any focal hyperperfusion in the striatum or its related structures has not been demonstrated in previous single photon emiss...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The aim of the present study was to test the hypothesis that perfusion single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), carried out in addition to transmission computed tomography (TCT), improves the predictive value of brain imaging within the therapeutically relevant time window after acute cerebral ischemia. METHODS Using TCT and [(99m)Tc]ethyl cysteinate dimer (E...

Most symptoms and signs associated with a carotid cavernous fistula (CCF) are thought to be related to regurgitation of flow into cortical veins and to venous congestion. Arteriovenous shunting and secondary perfusion insufficiency is regarded as less important in causing symptoms. We describe a 27-yr-old male patient who had improvement of neurologic symptoms and signs after detachable balloon...

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to evaluate the combination of spinal tap test (STT) with cerebral perfusion measurement assessed either by Tc-bicisate-SPECT (Tc-SPECT) or perfusion weighted MRI (pwMRI), or both, for a better preoperative selection of promising candidates for shunt operations in suspected idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus. METHODS 27 consecutive patients were exami...

The regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) and the cerebral vasoreactivity of the patients with depressive disorder were observed by SPECT and acetazolamide stress SPECT test respectively. Eighteen unmedicated depressed patients and nineteen healthy control subjects were included. Baseline SPECT was performed in both patients and control subjects. Acetazolamide stress SPECT test was performed two ...