The tail of the striatum uncovered by FP-CIT PET in isolated striatocapsular infarct

Excerpt

An 81-year-old woman who had an acute infarction in left middle cerebral artery territory 6 months ago underwent ¹⁸F-FP-CIT PET to evaluate subsequently developed bradykinesia in her right arm. The scan showed a large defect in the entire left dorsal striatum which is supplied by lenticulostriate arteries, whereas nucleus accumbens and the tail of the striatum (TS, arrows) were intact. Brain MRI revealed an isolated striatocapsular infarct in the corresponding region. This finding suggests that the dorsal putamen (PTd) and TS, which are spatially contiguous and anatomically indistinct, belong to different vascular territories. The striatum is functionally organized into sensorimotor, associative, and limbic zones based on corticostriatal projections with each functional zone perfused by separate arteries [1]. Accordingly, this case indicates that TS, which is supplied by anterior choroidal artery, is functionally distinctive from PTd.

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