Cerebral blood flow and glucose metabolism in multi-infarct-dementia related to primary antiphospholipid antibody syndrome

Abstract

The primary antiphospholipid antibody syndrome (PAPS) has beendescribed in patients with a history of fetal loss,thrombocytopenia and arterial or venous thrombosis. In PAPS, a prothrombotic state is mediated by antiphospholipid antibodies (aPLs) leading to disseminated thromboembolic vascular occlusion. Today, the presence of aPLs in the serumis considered as a distinct risk factor for recurrent stroke in young adults. Some PAPS patients develop a multi-infarct-syndrome with a stepwise decline of higher cortical functions. We report on a 55-year-old man suffering from progressive dementia and PAPS, in whom cerebral glucose metabolism and blood flow were examined by positron emission tomograpy (PET). Cerebral atrophy and moderate signs of leukaraiosis were detected in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), whereas the PET scans showed a considerable diffuse impairment of cortical glucose metabolism combined with a reduced cerebral perfusion in the arterial border zones. These findings indicate that PAPS-associated vascular dementia is accompanied by a cortical neuronal loss, presumably caused by a small-vessel disease with immune-mediated intravascular thrombosis. This case shows that pathological findings in PAPS are congruent to cerebral changes of metabolism and blood flow in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).

Keywords

primary antiphospholipid antibody syndrome (PAPS)cerebral glucose metabolism regional cerebral blood flow multi-infarct-dementia (MID)positron emission tomography (PET)

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