Greater left cerebral hemispheric metabolism in bulimia assessed by positron emission tomography.
Eight women with bulimia and eight age- and sex-matched normal control subjects were studied with positron emission tomography using [18F]-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) as a tracer of brain metabolic rate. Subjects performed a visual vigilance task during FDG uptake. In control subjects, the metabolic rate was higher in the right hemisphere than in the left, but patients with bulimia did not have this normal asymmetry. Lower metabolic rates in the basal ganglia, found in studies of depressed subjects, and higher rates in the basal ganglia, reported in a study of anorexia nervosa, were not found. This is consistent with the suggestion that bulimia is a diagnostic grouping distinct from these disorders.
Wu
J C
JC
Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, University of California, Irvine 92717.
Hagman
J
J
Buchsbaum
M S
MS
Blinder
B
B
Derrfler
M
M
Tai
W Y
WY
Hazlett
E
E
Sicotte
N
N
D000328:Adult; D002032:Bulimia / Q000378:metabolism*; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000378:metabolism*; D003847:Deoxyglucose / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D005462:Fluorine Radioisotopes; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D014055:Tomography, Emission-Computed
D005462:Fluorine Radioisotopes; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D003847:Deoxyglucose