technetium-tc-99m-bicisate and Behcet-Syndrome

We report a 48-year-old patient with neuro-Behcet's disease who presented with the combination of severe memory impairment and frontal/executive dysfunction. The clinical feature mimicked that of diencephalic amnesic syndrome. The MRI and SPECT findings supported the notion that the thalamus and related subcortical-frontal connection was responsible for this patient's problem.

Topics: Amnesia; Attention; Behcet Syndrome; Brain; Cysteine; Executive Function; Frontal Lobe; Humans; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Middle Aged; Neuropsychological Tests; Organotechnetium Compounds; Radiopharmaceuticals; Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon; Trail Making Test

Involvement of the brain is one of the most important complications of Behçet's disease, but its diagnosis is difficult because of the lack of effective imaging tools. Therefore, technetium-99m ethyl cysteinate dimer (Tc-99m ECD) single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) of the brain was used to detect abnormal regional cerebral blood flow in patients with neuro-Behçet's syndrome (NBS). Tc-99m ECD brain SPECT was performed to detect hypoperfusion areas of the brain in 10 NBS patients with definite neuropsychiatric symptoms or signs and normal brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings. Tc-99m ECD brain SPECT demonstrated hypoperfusion areas of the brain in all of the 10 NBS patients. The parietal lobes were the most common areas with hypoperfusion lesions. Tc-99m ECD brain SPECT is a more sensitive and useful tool than brain MRI for detecting hypoperfusion areas of the brain in NBS patients.

Topics: Adult; Behcet Syndrome; Brain Diseases; Cerebrovascular Circulation; Cysteine; Female; Humans; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Middle Aged; Organotechnetium Compounds; Radiopharmaceuticals; Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon

A patient with neuro-Behçet's disease was studied with both Tc-99m-HMPAO and Tc-99m-ECD brain perfusion SPECT during the same time period. In Tc-99m-HMPAO SPECT, focal high uptake was observed in the left basal ganglia where MRI depicted abnormal signal intensity. Conversely, Tc-99m-ECD SPECT did not show corresponding high uptake, but demonstrated rather low uptake in contrast to the Tc-99m-HMPAO SPECT. This case suggests that Tc-99m-HMPAO and Tc-99m-ECD may show discordant distribution in inflammatory brain disease such as neuro-Behçet's disease.

Topics: Adult; Behcet Syndrome; Brain; Brain Diseases; Cysteine; Female; Humans; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Organotechnetium Compounds; Oximes; Reproducibility of Results; Technetium Tc 99m Exametazime; Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon