Do the Brain Perfusion SPECT Findings Reflect the Outcome of Rehabilitation in Stroke Patients?

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate the association between brain perfusion single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) changes and the observed improvement in the clinical parameters, and therefore evaluate whether or not SPECT can predict the outcome of the rehabilitation of patients. Nineteen stroke patients were included in the prospective study. Patients were hospitalized within the first month after their stroke and were in the rehabilitation program for 2 months. A clinical evaluation and a brain perfusion SPECT was conducted during the admission, and on the completion of the rehabilitation program. The outcome measurements included Brunnstrom stage, Modified Ashworth Scale, functional independence measurement, functional ambulation categories, and mini-mental state examination. The brain perfusion SPECT was conducted by the evaluation of the regional cerebral blood flow on 12 different regions on both of the hemispheres. The comparison of the first and the third month clinical scores showed a statistically significant difference. However, the brain perfusion SPECT values' first and third month comparisons showed no difference on any of the measured parameters. Furthermore, there was no correlation between the clinical scores and SPECT values, for both the first month measures and the third month measures. The observed clinical improvement observed during the rehabilitation process of the stroke patients has no association to brain perfusion SPECT evaluations. Brain perfusion SPECT could not be a very good predictor for measuring clinical outcomes for stroke patients.