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Background: A comprehensive characterisation of grey and white matter changes in progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), the second most common extrapyramidal syndrome after Parkinson disease, is still not available. Objective: To evaluate grey and white matter changes in mild PSP patients by voxel based morphometry (VBM) and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), respectively. Methods: 14 mild PSP patients and 14 healthy controls entered the study and underwent a clinical and neuropsychological evaluation according with a standardised assessment. Each subject had a structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) study. Processing analysis of MRI data was carried out according to optimised VBM and fractional anisotropy was determined. Results: Compared with the controls, in PSP patients VBM analysis showed a significant clusters of reduced grey matter in premotor cortex, frontal operculum, anterior insula, hippocampus, and parahippocampal gyrus, bilaterally. With regard to subcortical brain regions, the pulvinar, dorsomedial and anterior nuclei of the thalamus, and superior and inferior culliculum were affected bilaterally. A bilateral decrease in fractional anisotropy in superior longitudinal fasciculus, anterior part of corpus callosum, arcuate fascicolus, posterior thalamic radiations, and internal capsule, probably involving the cortico-bulbar tracts, was present in PSP patients. Conclusions: These data provide evidence for both grey and white matter degeneration in PSP from the early disease stage. These structural changes suggest that atrophy of cortical and subcortical structures and neurodegeneration of specific fibre tracts contribute to neurological deficits in PSP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A [(18)F]-FDG PET study was performed in a 44 year old man with proximal kinesigenic choreoathetosis (PKC) secondary to idiopathic primary hypoparathyroidism (IPH) before and 1 year after calcium/calcitriol therapy. The [(18)F]-FDG PET performed before the start of the therapy disclosed a significant bilateral hypometabolism in the ventral striatum. One year later, with the patient still under calcium/calcitriol therapy and free of any occurrence of PKC episodes, the [(18)F]-FDG PET did not show the previously detected hypometabolism. The hypometabolism of the ventral striatum secondary to hypocalcaemia seems to play a crucial part in the pathogenesis of paroxysmal kinesigenic choreoathetosis associated with IPH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cortical regional cerebral perfusion was assessed by N, N, N1-trimethyl-N1-(2)-hydroxy-3-methyl-5-(I-123) iodobenzyl-1, 3-propanediamine 2 HCl I-123 (HIPDM) and single photon emission computerised tomography (SPECT) in six aphasic and two neglect patients with unilateral subcortical vascular lesions. Assessments were carried out both in the acute phase and after a period ranging from 1 to 6 months after stroke onset. In all patients an almost complete spontaneous recovery occurred and was associated with a significant improvement of cortical perfusion. A relationship between severity of aphasia and degree of cortical hypoperfusion was found, in both the acute and the follow up assessments, in the aphasic subgroup. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rCBF was evaluated using I-123 HIPDM and single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) on 14 patients undergoing extracranial-intracranial (EC-IC) bypass surgery because of internal carotid artery (ICA) occlusion. Before surgery, all patients showed cortical areas of hypoperfusion over the affected cerebral hemisphere. Shortly after EC-IC bypass a rCBF increase was observed in six patients. However, at the 6 and 12 month follow-ups, with angiographic control of bypass patency, rCBF studies did not show any significant rCBF change. Long-term noninvasive tomographic monitoring of perfusion changes occurring after EC-IC bypass surgery failed to show a long-lasting improvement in perfusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]