Correlation with neuropsychological assessment and SPM analysis of brain perfusion SPECT in patients with progressive supranuclear palsy

Progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) is a degenerative condition of unknown aetiology that produces an akinetic-rigid form of parkinsonism characterised by early falls, dementia and abnormalities of extraocular movements. The patterns of decreased regional cerebral blood flow and cognitive impairment in PSP compared with normal control have been insufficiently investigated and a limited number of studies have been performed. We evaluated clinical symptoms, functional neuroimaging study using Tc-99m HMPAO SPECT and neuropsychological profiles in patients with PSP. Eleven patients with PSP diagnosed by the clinical criteria of National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and the Society for PSP (NINDS-SPSP) (mean age: 70.5±5.6 years, educational period: 4.5±4.7 years) and age-matched 10 healthy control subjects (mean age: 68.1±4.5 years, educational period: 6.5±4.1 years) participated in this study were participated. All patients were given a neurologic examination, brain MRI and cerebral perfusion SPECT using Tc-99m HMPAO. We concomittently evaluated several cognitive profiles using the Seoul Neuropsychological Screening Battery. SPM analysis of the SPECT image showed significant perfusion deficits in the left inferior frontal gyrus, left caudate nucleus, left middle frontal gyrus and cingulate gyrus in the patients with PSP compared with age-matched healthy control (uncorrected p<0.01). On neuropsychological assessment, cognitive deficits on verbal and visual memory, word fluency and frontal executive functions were prominent in most patients with PSP compared with healthy control subjects. Our findings suggest that measurement of regional cerebral blood flow by perfusion SPECT and voxel-based SPM analysis with neuropsychological assessment are useful to understanding the correlation between perfusion deficits and abnormal cognitive profiles in patients with PSP