Sturge–Weber syndrome: cerebral haemodynamics during seizure activity

The aim of this study was to examine the haemodynamic response to seizures in three infants with Sturge-Weber syndrome by measuring regional cerebral blood flow using transcranial Doppler sonography and 99mTc HMPAO SPECT. Time-locked video/digital EEG recording was carried out for ictal studies. MRI was performed in all subjects. SPECT showed hemispheric hypoperfusion interictally in all three patients and also ictally in one of the three; a small region of hyperperfusion was seen on the same ictal scan in the latter, ie. the patient with interictal and ictal hypoperfusion. In the two older children middle cerebral artery velocity (MCAV) was reduced by between 29 and 62% in the middle cerebral artery of the predominantly affected hemisphere compared with the contralateral side. During seizures, increases of 6 to 30% in MCAV were recorded for the clinically seizing hemisphere compared with 24 to 170% for the contralateral side in four of the seizures recorded. In one infant, MCAV fell bilaterally during a seizure that generalized (-18 and -43% in the predominantly affected and contralateral side respectively). Sequential recordings in one infant suggested that, with time, the haemodynamic response to seizures of the unaffected hemisphere may decrease. These findings suggest that the venous malformation in SWS is associated with an impairment of the cerebral haemodynamic response to seizure activity.