[Analysis of cognitive function and regional cerebral blood flow in Parkinson's disease by 123I-IMP SPECT]

To investigate the relationship between the alterations of regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) and the cognitive impairment in parkinsonian patients, I studied forty-one patients affected by Parkinson's disease (19 men and 22 women) using single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and N-isopropyl-p-[123I] iodoamphetamine (123I-IMP) as a tracer. I evaluated the cognitive function with the Mini-Mental State examination (MMS), the Hasegawa's Dementia Scale (HDS), the Kana-pick up test (KT), and the figure drawing test (FDT). I evaluated the motor impairment with the Hoehn and Yahr stage. SPECT scanning was performed with a rotating digital gamma camera TOSHIBA 901-A. A semiquantitative method of assessing regional tracer uptake was used. Regions of interest (ROI; 3 x 3 pixels, 15.9 x 15.9 mm2) were drawn on the cerebellar hemispheres, cortical regions (frontal, temporal, parietal and occipital), and basal ganglia bilaterally. The RI count index was expressed as a ratio of activity in each ROI to mean counting rate over cerebellar regions. I considered the RI count index as the index of rCBF in each ROI. There were strong positive correlations between MMS and rCBF of frontal, parietal and occipital lobes (p less than 0.001). There were positive correlations between HDS and rCBF of frontal (p less than 0.01), parietal (p less than 0.001) and occipital lobes (p less than 0.01). There were positive correlations between KT and rCBF of frontal (p less than 0.01), occipital (p less than 0.05).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)