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The case of a 72-year-old patient affected by myasthenia gravis under pyridostigmine therapy, admitted to the hospital for the onset of oppressive thoracic pain associated with mild enzyme increase, electrocardiographic and echocardiographic disorders, is discussed. Dypiridamole/gated SPECT perfusion scintigraphy at rest evidenced reduced coronary reserve at the level of the lateral wall with apical akinesia and normokinesia of mediobasal left ventricle. On coronarography, coronary arteries were free of significant stenoses and left ventricular apical akinesia. The diagnostic approach to ischemic cardiomyopathy with the correct sequence of performed diagnostic imaging led to the presumptive identification of a rare syndrome.

AimRecent studies suggest an association of affective symptoms with striatal dopaminergic activity in Parkinson's Disease (PD). On the other hand, the psychopathological features of other common Movement Disorders (MD), such as Essential Tremor (ET) and Primary Dystonia, are less explored.We investigated striatal dopamine transporter (DAT) availability and affective symptoms in these three different MD.Materials and methods22 pts with ET, 14 pts with focal dystonia and 34 idiopathic PD pts underwent 123I-FP-CIT SPECT. A control group of 15 healthy subjects was also analyzed.Psychiatric assessment included the HAM-D scale for severity of depression, the HAM-A scale for anxiety levels, the Snaith Hamilton Pleasure Scale (SHAPS) for anhedonia.SPECT was carried out 3 hours after 111 MBq 123I-FP-CIT intravenous injection. Specific 123I-FP-CIT binding in the striatum and striatal subregions was calculated based on ROI analysis.ResultsSignificant reduction of 123I-FP-CIT binding ratios was found only in PD. Spearman's analysis showed an inverse correlation between anxiety and DAT availability in the left striatal regions of both ET and dystonic patients. On the contrary, a significant positive correlation was found in PD subjects.ConclusionThis preliminary study provided evidence for an association between pre-synaptic striatal dopaminergic function of the left hemisphere and anxiety in MD, thus confirming the “transnosologic” relevance of dopaminergic dysfunction.Unexpected findings in PD patients are in contrast with previous results. A down-regulation of DAT could be hypothesized in both ET and dystonic patients. This pattern seems to be concordant with preliminary findings in primary anxiety disorders.

We report the case of a 20-year-old woman with surgically corrected transposition of the great arteries, pulmonary valve defects, and absence of left coronary ostium at a previous cardiac catheterization. Because of worsening dyspnea, she underwent myocardial perfusion PET/CT study with 13N-ammonia at rest and during pharmacological stress, which showed extensive ischemia in the left coronary territory and signs of severe left ventricle dysfunction. Quantitative PET data showed impaired regional coronary flow reserve (