|
|
||||||||
CLINICAL INVESTIGATIONS |
Epilepsy Program, Department of Neurology, and Department of Nuclear Medicine, Samsung Medical Center, and Center for Clinical Research, Samsung Biomedical Research Institute, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea
| ABSTRACT |
|---|
|
|
|---|
Key Words: cerebellar hyperperfusion basal ganglia hyperperfusion temporal lobe epilepsy SPECT subtraction
| INTRODUCTION |
|---|
|
|
|---|
Although there are reports of CH to the supratentorial hyperperfusion area on ictal SPECT (2,6,7,9,11), to our knowledge, the relationship of CH and BGH to temporal and frontal hyperperfusion has not been reported. Previous studies of CH using conventional ictal SPECT revealed several problems, including lower spatial resolution, lack of detailed anatomic information, less sensitivity, and inaccuracy (3,57).
To investigate the ictal perfusion patterns of the cerebellum and basal ganglia during seizures of TLE, we performed SPECT subtraction with MRI coregistration. The objectives of our study were to elucidate the ictal hyperperfusion patterns of the cerebrum and cerebellum during TLE seizures and to evaluate the relationships between supratentorial cortical hyperperfusion, CH, BGH, and epileptic focus.
| MATERIALS AND METHODS |
|---|
|
|
|---|
The patients were divided into 2 groups according to the hyperperfusion patterns of the supratentorial region on subtracted SPECT: group 1 (patients with only temporal hyperperfusion without frontal hyperperfusion [n = 18; 10 men, 8 women]) and group 2 (patients with temporal and frontal hyperperfusion [n = 15; 8 men, 7 women]).
Clinical Parameters and Presurgical Evaluation
Clinical characteristics registered for each subject included age at the time of the first seizure, duration of epilepsy, seizure frequency, existence of aura and secondarily generalized seizures, and semiology of seizures. All patients underwent presurgical evaluation that included a complete medical and neurologic history and examination, brain MRI, video-electroencephalographic (EEG) monitoring, neuropsychologic evaluation, and ictal and interictal SPECT. The times of the onset and the end of the seizure, timing of the radioisotope injection, and seizure semiology were determined by reviewing ictal EEG and replaying the videotape.
The epileptogenic focus was localized on the basis of the scalp EEG, intracranial EEG (if it was done), neuroimaging studies, and surgical outcomes. Eighteen patients had right TLE and 15 had left TLE.
Interictal and Ictal SPECT Studies
Brain SPECT was performed using a triple-head Triad XLT system (Trionix Research Laboratory, Twinsburg, OH) equipped with low-energy, high-resolution collimators. The system resolution was 9.2 mm full width at half maximum with a Butterworth filter. Between 30 and 60 min after intravenous injection of 925 MBq 99mTc-ethylcysteinate dimer, a scan of 20 min was acquired with each head rotating 120° in 3° steps, creating 120 raw image sets. Raw data were reconstructed by filtered backprojection using a Butterworth filter (cutoff frequency, 0.6 cycle/cm; order, 3) and displayed in a 128 x 128 matrix (pixel size, 3.56 x 3.56 mm with a slice thickness of 3.56 mm). Attenuation correction was performed using Changs method (attenuation coefficient µ, 0.12/cm) (12).
Interictal SPECT studies were performed on patients who had no documented seizure activity during the previous 24-h period (or longer). For ictal studies, patients received the radiotracer injection during the clinical or EEG seizure activity. The patients were monitored continuously by a long-term video-EEG monitoring system during this phase. As soon as seizures were witnessed or a seizure button alarm sounded, the radiotracer was injected rapidly by a trained EEG technologist or nurse.
MRI
MR scanning was performed with a Sigma 1.5-T scanner (General Electric Medical Systems, Milwaukee, WI). Spoiled gradient recalled (SPGR) volumetric MRI was performed using the following parameters: no gap; 1.6-mm thickness; 124 slices; repetition time/echo time (TR/TE), 30/7; flip angle, 45°; number of excitations (NEX), 1; coronal views. The voxel dimension was 0.875 x 0.875 x 1.6 mm.
Fluid attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) MRI was performed for oblique coronal views using the following parameters: 1.0-mm gap; 4.0-mm thickness; 32 slices; TR/TE, 10,002/127.5; NEX, 1. FLAIR MRI was also performed for axial views with a 2.0-mm gap and 5.0-mm thickness. The T2 image was obtained with the following parameters: 0.3-mm gap; 3.0-mm thickness; 56 slices; TR/TE, 5,300/99; flip angle, 90°; NEX, 3; oblique coronal views. T2 axial images were also obtained with a 2.0-mm gap and 5.0-mm thickness.
Image Processing for SPECT Subtraction with MRI Coregistration
SPECT subtraction was processed on an off-line Ultra 1 Creator workstation (Sun Microsystems, Mountain View, CA) with a commercial software package, Analyze 7.5 (Biomedical Imaging Resource, Mayo Foundation, Rochester, MN). All biomedical images were transferred from each scanner console to the UNIX workstation by a 4-mm digital audiotape device.
The SPECT subtraction procedure consisted of 5 steps (13,14):
Interpretation of Subtracted SPECT
Ictal hyperperfusion of subtracted SPECT was considered significant only when the CBF difference in each pixel of the brain SPECT image between ictal and interictal states was >2 SDs. The location of significant ictal hyperperfusion was determined on MRI by SPECTMRI coregistration. The presence of ictal hyperperfusion was determined in the right and left frontal lobes, temporal lobes, basal ganglia, cerebellar hemispheres, and cerebellar vermis.
| RESULTS |
|---|
|
|
|---|
An aura of epigastric discomfort was reported in 25 patients, a psychic aura (e.g., fear, other emotions, déjà vu) was reported in 12, and a vestibular aura was reported in 5. An initial period of motionless staring was seen in 26 patients. Other components of complex partial seizure were oral automatism (n = 20), manual automatism (n = 20), hand dystonia (n = 11), and head version (n = 9). Secondarily generalized tonicclonic seizures occurred in 16 patients.
Conventional Ictal SPECT Interpretation
Ictal SPECT showed areas of increased uptake of radioactivity at the epileptic foci in all patients (right temporal region [n = 15], left temporal region [n = 18]). CH was observed in 18 patients (54.6%): CH contralateral to the epileptic focus in 14 patients (5 right TLE, 9 left TLE) and CH ipsilateral to the epileptic focus in 4 patients (3 right TLE, 1 left TLE).
Interictal SPECT revealed a focal and unilateral temporal hypoperfusion that is concordant with the seizure focus in 17 patients (51.5%). Among them, decreased contralateral cerebellar perfusion of interictal SPECT was observed in 3 patients (16.7%).
Brain MRI showed structural lesions in 28 patients (84.9%). Hippocampal sclerosis was found in 21 patients, focal cortical dysplasia in 5, and tumor in 2.
SPECT Subtraction with MRI Coregistration
All 33 patients showed ictal hyperperfusion in the temporal lobe of seizure origin (right temporal in 15, left temporal in 18). CH (either hemispheric or vermian) was observed in 29 patients (87.8%) (hemispheric CH in 25 patients [75.8%], vermian CH in 26 patients [78.8%]). In hemispheric CH, 7 patients (28.0%) showed CH ipsilateral to the temporal lobe hyperperfusion, 15 (60.0%) had contralateral hemispheric CH, and 3 (12.0%) showed bilateral hemispheric CH (Table 1; Fig. 1).
|
|
BGH was seen in 22 patients (66.7%) (13 [39.4%] ipsilateral, 4 [12.1%] contralateral, and 5 [15.2%] bilateral basal ganglia to the epileptogenic side) (Fig. 1; Table 2). In group 1, 11 patients had BGH (61.1%) (6 [54.6%] ipsilateral, 3 [27.3%] contralateral, and 2 [18.2%] bilateral basal ganglia to the epileptogenic side). In 3 patients with contralateral BGH, ictal hyperperfusion was observed in bilateral temporal lobes. In group 2, BGH was seen in 11 patients (73.3%) (7 [46.7%] ipsilateral, 1 [6.7%] contralateral, and 3 [20%] bilateral basal ganglia to the epileptogenic side). One patient with contralateral BGH showed ictal hyperperfusion in the ipsilateral whole temporal lobe and the contralateral frontal region.
|
| DISCUSSION |
|---|
|
|
|---|
Contralateral CH, a condition opposite to that of crossed cerebellar diaschisis, can also occur because of contralateral cerebral hyperperfusion or hypermetabolism of the ictal focus in epilepsy patients. This is commonly observed on ictal SPECT (60%70%) of epilepsy patients (3,57,21), reflecting an alteration of blood flow through a neuronal connection during seizures. Most previous studies reported that CH during seizures was seen on the side contralateral to the supratentorial hyperperfusion area as is found with crossed cerebellar diaschisis (3,5,21). Another study reported that supratentorial hyperperfusion may result in hyperperfusion of the ipsilateral cerebellum, although it was less profound than was contralateral CH (7). Several studies have shown that frontal lobes have extensive efferent projections to the contralateral anterior cerebellar hemisphere (16,2225); contralateral CH and hypermetabolism have been observed more often in patients with frontal lobe epilepsy than in patients with TLE (23). The mesial temporal lobe has sparse, diffuse, and bilateral (with an ipsilateral predominance) projections to the cerebellum (2225). Theodore et al. (26) suggested a consistent tendency of lower cerebellar metabolism in the hemisphere ipsilateral to the seizure-generating temporal lobe. Marks et al. (7) reported that most CH occurred in the side contralateral to the frontal lobe hyperperfusion. Other studies showed that TLE seizures associated with contralateral CH always had a seizure spread to the ipsilateral frontal lobe (21,27). Our study indicated that the hemispheric CH during TLE seizures can be observed in cerebellar hemispheres ipsilateral, contralateral, or bilateral to the side of seizure origin, and the contralateral hemispheric CH occurred more often in TLE seizures associated with frontal hyperperfusion. Vermian hyperperfusion was seen frequently in groups 1 and 2 (with not only temporal lobe hyperperfusion alone but also temporal and frontal hyperperfusion) through SPECT subtraction. It may be postulated that cerebellar vermis has greater amounts of nerve connections with the temporal lobe than does the cerebellar hemisphere.
BGH is also a common finding in ictal SPECT of TLE patients with dystonic posturing (9,10). The basal ganglia have many reciprocal connections with frontal and temporal cortices (6,7,9,10,2830). Among the hippocampal efferents, the precommissural fornix fibers originating from the subicular complex are distributed to the accumbens nucleus, which projects massively to the ventral pallidum and the caudate nucleus. Clinical and anatomic data support the hypothesis that BGH is probably the result of subcortical activation from the cortical focus through corticostriate connections (3133). Also, anatomic reciprocal projections underlie the orbitofrontal cortex and the striatum (29). Therefore, seizures originating from the frontal and temporal cortices can easily spread to the basal ganglia. Corticopontocerebellar fibers from multiple cortical areas (primarily frontal areas) converged to the compact fibers in subcortical regions and they pass the basal ganglia. Activation of the frontal cortex containing many corticopontocerebellar pathway fibers may induce stimulation of the ipsilateral basal ganglia and the contralateral cerebellum. On the other hand, because of the clustering of corticopontocerebellar fibers in the basal ganglia, activation of the basal ganglia from temporal lobe seizures may stimulate these corticopontocerebellar fibers more effectively than does activation of focal frontal cortical regions. Therefore, the side of BGH and the side of seizure origin may be an important factor for determining the side of hemispheric CH in TLE. In our study, BGH was commonly observed in both groups of temporal lobe hyperperfusion alone and frontotemporal hyperperfusion (61.1% and 73.3%, respectively). When unilateral BGH (either ipsilateral or contralateral to the epileptogenic area) was seen, hemispheric CH occurred commonly in the side contralateral to BGH (82.5%). Frontal hyperperfusion (contralaterally), temporal hyperperfusion (ipsilaterally and contralaterally), and BGH (contralaterally) may participate in determining the side of hemispheric CH.
Ictal SPECT has become widely used for seizure localization in patients with intractable partial epilepsy (1,2). Spencer (1) reported that the diagnostic sensitivity and specificity of interictal SPECT were 66% and 68% for TLE and 60% and 93% for extratemporal lobe epilepsy. The sensitivity and specificity of ictal SPECT were 90% and 77% for TLE and 81% and 93% for extratemporal lobe epilepsy. However, conventional side-by-side visual analysis of ictal and interictal SPECT images has limitations in identification of the epileptic focus, particularly in patients with extratemporal or otherwise nonlocalized intractable partial epilepsy (34). To accurately identify the seizure focus by SPECT studies, the physician must consider the differences between ictal and interictal SPECT images in terms of the doses of injected radioisotope, the speed of tracer uptake and decay, the patients head position, the image slice location, and the timing of the ictal injection with respect to electrographic and clinical seizure onset and end (15,34). SPECT subtraction with MRI coregistration (computer-aided subtraction of the coregistered normalized interictal SPECT from the normalized ictal SPECT, followed by coregistration of the image difference to the MR image) is a method that can improve the sensitivity and specificity of ictal SPECT in localizing the seizure focus (3436). Because SPECT subtraction with MRI coregistration has a higher spatial resolution and provides more detailed structural information than does conventional ictal SPECT alone, SPECT subtraction with MRI coregistration is able to localize a focal brain region with a significant perfusion difference during the seizures (15,34,36). Recent studies suggest that the sensitivity and specificity of SPECT subtraction with MRI coregistration may surpass those of MRI, PET, scalp-recorded EEG, interictal SPECT, and visual analysis of ictal SPECT (13,15,37).
Previous studies for the diaschisis have used brain SPECT and PET (5,6,19,21,26,27). SPECT or PET studies have their intrinsic problems in localizing focal CBF or changes in metabolism. CBF and glucose metabolism vary over large cortical regions in individual patients. The brain areas with a significant change in CBF or glucose metabolism from normal or the interictal state are difficult to localize accurately because of intersubject and intertest variation and the low spatial resolution of SPECT and PET (38). Furthermore, detailed anatomic information is not available from brain SPECT or PET images alone.
| CONCLUSION |
|---|
|
|
|---|
SPECT subtraction was able to display objectively and accurately the regional CBF differences of the whole brain between the ictal period and the interictal state. Furthermore, SPECTMRI coregistration can reveal the anatomic location of brain regions with significant CBF changes during seizures.
| ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
|---|
| FOOTNOTES |
|---|
For correspondence or reprints contact: Seung Bong Hong, MD, PhD, Epilepsy Program, Department of Neurology, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, 50 Ilwon-dong, Kangnam-ku, Seoul 135-710, Korea.
| REFERENCES |
|---|
|
|
|---|
This article has been cited by other articles:
![]() |
K. Schindler, H. Leung, K. Lehnertz, and C. E Elger How generalised are secondarily "generalised" tonic clonic seizures? J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatry, September 1, 2007; 78(9): 993 - 996. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
K. Kaiboriboon, M. E. Bertrand, M. M. Osman, and R. E. Hogan Quantitative Analysis of Cerebral Blood Flow Patterns in Mesial Temporal Lobe Epilepsy Using Composite SISCOM J. Nucl. Med., January 1, 2005; 46(1): 38 - 43. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
H. Blumenfeld, K. A. McNally, S. D. Vanderhill, A. L. Paige, R. Chung, K. Davis, A. D. Norden, R. Stokking, C. Studholme, E. J. Novotny Jr, et al. Positive and Negative Network Correlations in Temporal Lobe Epilepsy Cereb Cortex, August 1, 2004; 14(8): 892 - 902. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
H. Blumenfeld and J. Taylor Why do Seizures Cause Loss of Consciousness? Neuroscientist, October 1, 2003; 9(5): 301 - 310. [Abstract] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
J. Sojkova, P. J. Lewis, A. H. Siegel, A. M. Siegel, D. W. Roberts, V. M. Thadani, and P. D. Williamson Does Asymmetric Basal Ganglia or Thalamic Activation Aid in Seizure Foci Lateralization on Ictal SPECT Studies? J. Nucl. Med., September 1, 2003; 44(9): 1379 - 1386. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
W. Van Paesschen, P. Dupont, G. Van Driel, H. Van Billoen, and A. Maes SPECT perfusion changes during complex partial seizures in patients with hippocampal sclerosis Brain, May 1, 2003; 126(5): 1103 - 1111. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
V. Bouilleret, M. P. Valenti, E. Hirsch, F. Semah, and I. J. Namer Correlation Between PET and SISCOM in Temporal Lobe Epilepsy J. Nucl. Med., August 1, 2002; 43(8): 991 - 998. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
W. C. Shin, S. B. Hong, W. S. Tae, and S. E. Kim Ictal hyperperfusion patterns according to the progression of temporal lobe seizures Neurology, February 12, 2002; 58(3): 373 - 380. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
| JOURNAL OF NUCLEAR MEDICINE TECHNOLOGY | THE JOURNAL OF NUCLEAR MEDICINE |