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BackgroundProgressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) patients often exhibit cognitive decline and behavioural changes during the disease course. In a subset, these symptoms may be the presenting manifestation and can be similar to those in frontotemporal dementia (FTD). However, correlation studies between quantitative imaging measures and detailed neuropsychological assessment are scarce. The aim of this study was to investigate the functional role of affected brain regions in cognition in PSP compared with controls and subsequently examine these regions in FTD patients with known tau pathology (FTD tau).Methods21 PSP patients, 27 healthy controls and 11 FTD tau patients were enrolled. All participants underwent neuropsychological testing and technetium-99m-hexamethyl-propylenamine-oxime single photon emission CT. Regression slope analyses were performed in statistical parametric mapping to find significant associations between neuropsychological test results and brain perfusion.ResultsPSP patients showed hypoperfusion in the midcingulate cortex (MCC) of which the posterior part correlated with Stroop III and Weigl. In FTD tau patients, MCC involvement was located more anterior and correlated with Stroop III and Wisconsin Card Sorting Test concepts. The degree of hypoperfusion in the anterior cortex and MCC in the disorders differed in the subgenual anterior cingulate cortex only.ConclusionsThe posterior part of the MCC is prominently involved in the neurodegenerative process of PSP, and the severity of its hypoperfusion correlated with the extent of executive dysfunction. In FTD tau, this cognitive domain was associated with anterior MCC involvement. The degree of hypoperfusion in these regions did not differ between PSP and FTD tau. These observations provide insight into the role of the cingulate cortex in cognitive dysfunction in these neurodegenerative disorders and warrant further investigations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract. We compared pituitary iodine-123 epidepride single-photon emission tomography (SPET) and [sup 123]I-IBZM SPET for the in vivo imaging of dopamine D[sub 2] receptors in 15 patients with clinically non-functioning pituitary adenomas. Four patients with dopamine agonist-sensitive macroprolactinomas were studied as positive controls. The uptake of radioactivity in the pituitary was established using a visual scoring system and an uptake index calculated by dividing the average count rates in the pituitary area by the average count rates in the cerebellum. All four macroprolactinomas showed specific binding of [sup l23]I-epidepride, but only one showed specific binding of [sup 123]I-IBZM. Specific binding of [sup 123]I-epidepride was demonstrated in 9 of the 15 clinically nonfunctioning pituitary adenomas (60%), but specific binding of [sup 123]I-IBZM was shown in only 6 of these 15 cases (40%). The uptake of [sup 123]I-epidepride in the pituitary region was consistently higher than that of [sup 123]I-IBZM. None of the patients who showed absence of uptake of [sup 123]I-epidepride in the pituitary area showed uptake of [sup 123]I-IBZM in this area. In conclusion: [sup 123]I-epidepride SPET is superior to [sup 123]I-IBZM SPET for the visualization of dopamine receptor-positive pituitary adenomas. Therefore, [sup 123]I-epidepride should replace [sup 123]I-IBZM for future D[sub 2] receptor SPET studies of pituitary adenomas. [sup 123]I-epidepride SPET potentially might serve to predict the response of clinically non-functioning pituitary ade-... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]