Abstract
Praxic performance and level of brain perfusion with SPECT in Alzheimer's disease. The aim of the paper is to study the relation between the performance obtained in several praxic tasks and the level of brain perfusion with Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) in order to develop an approach to the functional reality with the aid of neuropsychological clinical assessment. The sample consisted of 54 subjects of both sexes, who had been diagnosed Alzheimer-type Dementia following the criteria of the Neuroepidemiology Branch of the National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Disorders and Stroke, and the Alzheimers Disease and Related Disorders Association. Praxia asessment was carried out using different modes. Brain SPECT images were performed using the gammacamera by Elscint, model 409-AG. The radiopharmaceutical used was Hexamethylpropylene amine oxine (HMPAO). Performance obtained in tested, except oral-facial praxis, are asociated with brain perfusion deficits, inasmuch as cerebral SPECT measures the effect of neuronal metabolic alterations in brain perfusion.
