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Imaging Characteristics of Brain SPECT, PET, and MRI in Neurosyphilis

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Abstract

The incidence of neurosyphilis has declined since effective penicillin therapy against Treponema pallidum was introduced. However, the diagnosis of neurosyphilis early in the disease course is very important in order to select appropriate antibiotic therapy. We report brain MRI, SPECT with Tc-99m ECD, and PET with F-18 FDG findings before antibiotic therapy in a neurosyphilis patient with neurological symptoms. The cerebral cortices showed hypoperfusion with a patchy distribution on SPECT and foci with high signal intensity on MRI, suggesting ischemia. Brain PET showed areas with hypometabolism in the temporoparietal lobes bilaterally.

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Funding

This research was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Korean government (2020R1C1C1007254).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Nuclear Medicine, Incheon St. Mary’s Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, South Korea

    Eun Kyoung Choi, Hyeonseok Jeong, Yong-An Chung & Jin Kyoung Oh

  2. Department of Neurology, Incheon St. Mary’s Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, South Korea

    Young Do Kim & In-Uk Song

  3. Department of Radiology, Incheon St. Mary’s Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, South Korea

    Hyeonseok Jeong & Yong-An Chung

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  1. Eun Kyoung Choi
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  2. Young Do Kim
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  3. Hyeonseok Jeong
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  4. Yong-An Chung
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  5. Jin Kyoung Oh
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Correspondence to Young Do Kim.

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Eun Kyoung Choi, Young Do Kim, Hyeonseok Jeong, Yong-An Chung, Jin Kyoung Oh, and In-Uk Song declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the Helsinki declaration as revised in 2013 and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Choi, E.K., Kim, Y.D., Jeong, H. et al. Imaging Characteristics of Brain SPECT, PET, and MRI in Neurosyphilis. Nucl Med Mol Imaging 55, 48–51 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13139-021-00684-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13139-021-00684-9

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