raclopride and Brain-Edema

Two patients with moderate Huntington's disease (HD) received bilateral fetal striatal allografts. One patient demonstrated, for the first time, increased striatal D2 receptor binding, evident with 11C-raclopride positron emission tomography, and prolonged clinical improvement over 5 years, suggesting long term survival and efficacy of the graft. The other patient did not improve clinically or radiologically. Our results indicate that striatal transplantation in HD may be beneficial but further studies are needed to confirm this.

Topics: Adrenergic Uptake Inhibitors; Adult; Brain Edema; Brain Tissue Transplantation; Carbon Radioisotopes; Case-Control Studies; Caudate Nucleus; Combined Modality Therapy; Corpus Striatum; Cyclosporine; Dopamine Antagonists; Female; Fetal Tissue Transplantation; Follow-Up Studies; Humans; Huntington Disease; Immunosuppressive Agents; Lymphocytosis; Male; Middle Aged; Morpholines; Neurologic Examination; Neuropsychological Tests; Positron-Emission Tomography; Postoperative Complications; Putamen; Raclopride; Reboxetine; Stereotaxic Techniques; Tissue Survival