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Regional brain glucose utilization in adenylosuccinase-deficient patients measured by positron emission tomography
A G De Volder1, J Jaeken, G Van den Berghe
1Positron Tomography Laboratory, University of Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium.
Abstract:
Regional brain glucose utilization was investigated by positron emission tomography with fluorodeoxyglucose in three children with adenylosuccinase deficiency. A consistent pattern was found in the three patients, namely a marked decrease of fluorodeoxyglucose uptake in all gray structures, with the exception of the cerebellum, which was minimally affected. Anomalies predominated in the cerebral cortex, particularly in the anterior regions; they were less pronounced in thalamus and basal ganglia. The observations suggest that positron emission tomography may be a useful tool for the localization of the deleterious effects of metabolic diseases and for the investigation of their pathophysiologic mechanisms.