Abstract:
Four patients with Wilson's disease and eight normal controls
were studied with 2-deoxy-2-[18F]fluoro-D-glucose (FDG) and positron
emission tomography (PET). The patients had diffusely reduced glucose
metabolism in all brain regions evaluated compared with controls, with
the exception of the thalamus. The ratio of the cerebral metabolic rate
for glucose in the lenticular nuclei to hemispheres declined from 1.23
(+/- 0.14 SD) in controls to 1.03 (+/- 0.06) (p less than 0.025) in
Wilson's disease patients. Compared with Huntington's disease, the PET
FDG results in Wilson's disease indicate relatively less focal
involvement of the caudate nucleus, more severe focal changes in the
lenticular nuclei, and more significant global changes in glucose
metabolism