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18 FDG positron emission computed tomography in a study of aphasia
Author(s) -
Metter E. Jeffrey,
Wasterlain Claude G.,
Kuhl David E.,
Hanson Wayne R.,
Phelps Michael E.
Publication year - 1981
Publication title -
annals of neurology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 4.764
H-Index - 296
eISSN - 1531-8249
pISSN - 0364-5134
DOI - 10.1002/ana.410100208
Subject(s) - aphasia , positron emission tomography , lesion , neuropsychology , medicine , nuclear medicine , radiology , cerebral infarction , brain infarction , ischemia , pathology , cognition , psychiatry
Positron emission computed tomography (PECT) using 18 F‐2‐fluoro‐2‐deoxy‐ D ‐glucose (FDG) was used to investigate the correlations between clinical status, anatomy (as described by CT), and metabolism in five patients with stable aphasia resulting from ischemic cerebral infarction. Local cerebral metabolic activity was diminished in an area larger than the area of infarction demonstrated by CT. In one patient, FDG PECT revealed a metabolic lesion that probably caused the aphasic syndrome and was not apparent by CT. The data suggest that reliance on CT in delineating the extent of the brain lesion in aphasia or other neuropsychological defects can be misleading; FDG PECT may provide important additional information. Two patients with similar metabolic lesions had very different clinical syndromes, showing that even when currently available methods are combined, major gaps remain in clinicoanatomical correlations in aphasia.