CEREBRAL GLUCOSE-METABOLISM IN CORTICOBASAL DEGENERATION - COMPARISONWITH PROGRESSIVE SUPRANUCLEAR PALSY AND NORMAL CONTROLS

The regional metabolic rate of glucose was estimated using F-18-labele d 2-deoxyglucose and positron-emission tomography (PET) in eight patie nts with corticobasal degeneration (CBD). Measures of cerebral glucose metabolism in these patients were compared with those for nine age-ma tched normal controls and eight patients with progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP). Compared with that in the normal controls, the CBD patie nts showed significantly reduced cerebral glucose metabolism in the co ntralateral hemisphere to the clinically most affected side in the dor solateral frontal, medial frontal, inferior parietal, sensorimotor, an d lateral temporal cortex, as well as in the corpus striatum and the t halamus. In comparison with that in PSP, in CBD the glucose metabolism in the contralateral hemisphere was significantly decreased in the in ferior parietal, sensorimotor, lateral temporal cortex, and the corpus striatum. These results confirm the marked asymmetric cerebral involv ement in CBD and suggest that there are significant differences betwee n CBD and PSP in the cerebral metabolism in some cerebral regions such as the inferior parietal cortex and sensorimotor cortex, which might reflect the differences in their clinical characteristics.