Acute effects of thalamotomy and pallidotomy on regional cerebral metabolism, evaluated by PET

• Published in: Clinical neurology and neurosurgery Vol. 102; no. 2; pp. 84 - 90
• Main Authors: Henselmans, J.M.L, de Jong, B.M, Pruim, J, Staal, M.J, Rutgers, A.W.F, Haaxma, R
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 01-06-2000; Elsevier Science
• Subjects: Basal Ganglia - diagnostic imaging; Basal Ganglia - metabolism; Biological and medical sciences; Connectivity; FDG; Female; Fluorodeoxyglucose F18 - pharmacokinetics; Globus Pallidus - surgery; Humans; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Neurosurgery; Pallidotomy; Parietal Lobe - diagnostic imaging; Parietal Lobe - metabolism; Parkinson Disease - surgery; PET; Postoperative Care; Prefrontal Cortex - diagnostic imaging; Prefrontal Cortex - metabolism; Preoperative Care; Skull, brain, vascular surgery; Stereotaxic Techniques; Surgery (general aspects). Transplantations, organ and tissue grafts. Graft diseases; Thalamotomy; Thalamus - surgery; Tomography, Emission-Computed; FDG; Connectivity; Pallidotomy; PET; Thalamotomy; Radionuclide study; Human; Local cerebral glucose utilization; Exeresis; Nervous network; Stereotaxic surgery; Evolution; Metabolism; Pallidum; Positron; Emission tomography
• ISSN: 0303-8467; 1872-6968
• DOI: 10.1016/S0303-8467(00)00070-6

The subacute effect of thalamotomy and pallidotomy on regional cerebral metabolism was studied by means of Positron Emission Tomography (PET). In this way we aimed to identify the pattern of functional deafferentiation following a specific lesion in the basal ganglia. The cerebral distribution of 2-[18F]fluoro 2-deoxy-
d-glucose (FDG) uptake at 1–2 weeks after operation was compared with the uptake before operation. Analysis of the changes was done by statistical parametric mapping (SPM). Thalamotomy resulted in a reduction of FDG uptake in predominantly the lateral prefrontal- and the parietal cortex, whereas pallidotomy affected only uptake in the (pre)frontal cortex. The absence of change in the primary sensory-motor cortex after either surgical procedure may suggest that, in man, the motor portions of the thalamus exert a predominantly indirect influence on the human motor cortex.