Revista de neurologia
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Revista de neurologia · Oct 2005
[Patent foramen ovale and obstructive sleep apnea: their association and meaning].
The patent foramen ovale is a permanent aperture, similar to a floating membrane, remainder from fetal circulation. It can be easily diagnosed by transesophageal echocardiography and/or transcraneal Doppler with contrast. It is being described an increasing number of pathologies, where the presence of a patent foramen ovale can have pathologic significance. ⋯ Patients with obstructive sleep apnea present a major prevalence of patent foramen ovale than normal population. In these patients can easily concur, at least theoretically, the basic criteria for paradoxical embolism. In this study, we revised the pathologic implications that can derive from this association.
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Revista de neurologia · Sep 2005
Case Reports[DaT-SCAN SPECT in the differential diagnosis of dementia with Lewy bodies and Alzheimer's disease].
Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) is one of the main differential diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). In DLB there is 40-70% loss of striatal dopamine and the loss of dopaminergic cell is accompanied by loss of the dopamine transporter. The loss of dopaminergic neurons in DLB can be confirmed in vivo with I-FP-CIT (DaT-SCAN), a pre-synaptic dopamine transporter marker. There are no changes in DaT-scan in AD compared with controls. AIM. The use of DaT-SCAN for the differential diagnosis between AD and DLB. ⋯ The sensitivity and specificity of the DLB criteria vary markedly. FP-CIT SPECT may be a new tool in the differential diagnosis between DLB and AD.