Purpose: We carried out differential diagnosis of brain blood flow images using single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) for patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) or progressive supranuclear paralysis (PSP) using statistical parametric mapping (SPM) and to whom we had applied anatomical standardization.
Materials and methods: We studied two groups and compared brain blood flow images using SPECT (N-isopropyl-4-iodoamphetamine [(123)I] hydrochloride injection, 222 MGq dosage i.v.). A total of 27 patients were studied using SPM: 18 with PD and 9 with PSP; humming bird sign on MRI was from moderate to medium.
Results: The decline of brain bloodstream in the PSP group was more notable in the midbrain, near the domain where the humming bird sign was observable, than in the PD group.
Conclusions: The observable differences in brain bloodstream decline in the midbrain of PSP and PD patients suggest the potential usefulness of this technique's clinical application to distinction diagnosis.