SPECT Imaging Scan to Find Source of Epileptic Seizures

The Loyola University Health System (Maywood, IL, USA) now performs ictal Single-Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) scans and uses 3-D modeling software to localize seizures as they occur. The patient is first admitted to the Epilepsy Monitoring Unit where they are continuously monitored for seizures using an Electroencephalography (EEG). When a seizure is detected the patient is injected with a nuclear medicine radiopharmaceutical tracer and undergoes a SPECT scan. The scan, together with the 3-D modeling software, enables the specialists to pinpoint the exact location of the seizure in the brain. This is possible because the radioactive tracer is most prevalent at the epileptogenic zone where blood flow has increase because of the seizure.

According to Bruno Maton, MD, associate professor in the Department of Neurology at Loyola and epilepsy specialist, “SPECT scans require close collaboration between the departments of Radiology and Neurology.”

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