Comparative study of SPECT regional cerebral blood flow imaging in patients with ipsilateral neglect or with contralateral neglect

Objective: To explore the differences between ipsilateral and contralateral neglect patients in the location, range or extent of the decrease of regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF). Methods: The dextromanual patients who were diagnosed as with unilateral stroke clinically and contralateral or ipsilateral neglect by line bisection test underwent SPECT rCBF imaging. Results: On SPECT imaging, for the patients with ipsilateral neglect the stroke lesion could be found in either hemisphere and mostly in frontal cortex; central sulcus, parietal and occipital cortex were the second most common sites. The patients with contralateral neglect had damages in the frontal cortex mostly, parietal and temporal cortex secondly. There were no significant difference between the ipsilateral and contralateral neglect patients in rCBF, the decrease percentage of rCBF, the extent, number of foci and the flow deficit size. Conclusions: The patients with the lesion in either left or right hemisphere may contract ipsilateral neglect. There is no significant difference between the patients with ipsilateral neglect and the patients with contralateral neglect in the location and the number of the foci, and the extent of the decrease of rCBF