Glutamate-based magnetic resonance spectroscopy in neuroleptic malignant syndrome

Glutamate neurotoxicity is implicated in a number of neurological diseases, including Neuroleptic Malignant syndrome. Therefore, functional magnetic resonance imaging can help in diagnosis and monitoring such conditions. However, reports of this application are scarce in the literature. In this manuscript, glutamate based imaging of the basal ganglia showed increased levels of the neurotransmitter bilaterally. In addition, a radon transform of the functional image was performed to look for any asymmetry in cerebral activation. Although no asymmetry was detected in this case, this novel analysis can be applied in physiological and pathological scenarios to visualize contribution of different brain structures.