Ipsilateral Cerebral and Contralateral Cerebellar Hyperperfusion in Patients with Unilateral Cerebral Infarction; SPM Analysis

Purpose: Cortical reorganization has an important role in the recovery of stroke. We analyzed the compensatory cerebral and cerebellar perfusion change in patients with unilateral cerebral infarction using statistical parametric mapping (SPM). Materials and Methods: Fifty seven 99mTc-Ethylene Cystein Diethylester (ECD) cerebral perfusion SPECT images of 57 patients (male/female=38/19, mean age=56±17 years) with unilateral cerebral infarction were evaluated retrospectively. Patients were divided into subgroups according to the location (left, right) and the onset (acute, chronic) of infarction. Each subgroup was compared with normal controls (male/female=11/1, mean age =36±10 years) in a voxel-by-voxel manner (two sample t-test, p<0.001) using SPM. Results: All 4 subgroups showed hyperperfusion in the ipsilateral cerebral cortex, but not in the contralateral cerebral cortex. Chronic left and right infarction groups revealed hyperperfusion in the ipsilateral primary sensorimotor cortex, meanwhile, acute subgroups did not. Contralateral cerebellar hyperperfusion was also demonstrated in the chronic left infarction group. Conclusion: Using 99mTc-ECD SPECT, we observed ipsilateral cerebral and contralateral cerebeller hyperper-fusion in patients with cerebral infarction. However, whether these findings are related to the recovery of cerebral functions should be further evaluated. (Nucl Med Mol Imaging 2008;42(5):347-353