(99m)Tc-Hexamethyl Propyleneamine Oxime Brain Perfusion Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography in Characterization of Dementia: An Initial Experience in Indian Clinical Practice

There is a growing health burden in developing countries due to recent trends of increasing incidence of neurodegenerative diseases. To reduce the healthcare cost and effective management of dementia illness, early diagnosis, accurate differentiation and their progression assessment is becoming crucially important. We are utilizing (99m)Tc-d, l-hexamethyl propyleneamine oxime (HMPAO) brain perfusion single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) to characterize dementia on the basis of perfusion patterns and observed significant improvement in their management. Eleven patients (median age of 60 years range of 53-83 years) with clinical suspicion of dementia underwent (99m)Tc-HMPAO brain perfusion SPECT. SPECT-computed tomography acquisition done, data are reconstructed, reviewed in three view and further processed in “neurogam” to get voxel based analysis and the comparison with age based normal database and surface mapping. Final diagnosis was done with clinical correlation. Four patients are diagnosed as Alzheimer's disease, two as frontotemporal dementia, one as dementia of Lewy bodies, two as vascular dementia and two as pseudodementia. All imaging findings are well-correlated with clinical background. Brain perfusion SPECT with HMPAO was very helpful to us in characterizing the patients of dementia by its perfusion pattern.