The imaging of the dopamine transporter could demonstrate the implication of dopaminergic pathway in the appearance of tardive dyskinesia. We report a case with psychotic and tardive dyskinesia symptoms. A DAT scan showed decreased dopamine transporter uptake in the area of brain's basal gaglia. A trial with quetiapine improved both psychotic and TD symptoms while a second DAT scan showed improvement status. We conclude that increased dopamine transporter uptake seemed to associate with the improvement of TD.
Signs of striatal dopamine transporter density increase in association with improvement of tardive dyskinesia in a patient with schizophrenia, as demonstrated by a DAT scan.
National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Medical School, 2nd Department of Psychiatry, ATTIKON General Hospital, Athens, Greece. erizos@med.uoa.gr
