J Korean Neurosurg Soc.  1996 Feb;25(2):309-314.

Brain SPECT with Tc-99m HMPAO as a Diagnostic Tool for Brain Death

• Na SL
• Park YS
• Jun SS
• Cho KK
• Kim DS
• Choi CR

Abstract

In the evaluation of brain function, clinical examination is used for the brain stem, and EEG for the other part of the brain. However, EEG may be falsely silent in some cases due to medical treatment and technical artifact, and not used easily at postoperative state due to opertion wound contamination. We studied the findings of Tc-99m HMPAO Brain SPECT in 9 cases, who were diagnosed as brain death by currently accepted criteria. With normal cerebral perfusion, the radionuclide activity is primarily intracranial, whereas with brain death it is limited to the scalp. Tc-99m HMPAO cerebral perfusion scintigraphy was, non-invasive and reliable method for the diagnosis of the cerebral circulation, safely before apnea test.

Keyword

Tc-99m; HMPAO; Brain SPECT

MeSH Terms

Apnea
Artifacts
Brain Death*
Brain Stem
Brain*
Diagnosis
Electroencephalography
Perfusion
Perfusion Imaging
Scalp
Technetium Tc 99m Exametazime*
Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon*
Wounds and Injuries
Technetium Tc 99m Exametazime