Gender differences in cerebral perfusion in cocaine abuse: technetium-99m-HMPAO SPECT study of drug-abusing women.
Cocaine abuse continues to be a major public health concern, with a variety of medical and neurologic sequelae. Previous studies have demonstrated abnormalities in cerebral perfusion in chronic cocaine abusers and after acute administration of cocaine. Although women are becoming increasingly represented among drug abusers, few studies have included women. To the authors' knowledge, none has compared cerebral perfusion in asymptomatic women with that in men.


METHODS
The cerebral perfusion of 13 cocaine-dependent women, 4 of whom were also heroin dependent, was studied with 99mTc hexamethylpropyleneamine oxime (HMPAO) SPECT. These women were compared with 13 cocaine-dependent men and 26 healthy control subjects. Structural brain lesions and neurologic abnormalities were excluded by MRI and neurologic evaluation. Perfusion studies were interpreted in a standardized fashion by reviewers blinded to clinical information.


RESULTS
It was found that cocaine-dependent women were much less likely to have abnormal study findings than cocaine-dependent men (p = 0.003) and were indistinguishable from normal women (p = 1.0). However, the results in both women and men who concurrently used heroin plus cocaine were all abnormal. Perfusion abnormalities tended to be located in anterior brain structures, such as the frontal and temporal cortex and the basal ganglia.


CONCLUSIONS
These data suggest that cocaine-dependent women have fewer abnormalities in cerebral perfusion than cocaine-dependent men, but that concurrent abuse of heroin and cocaine is associated with more perfusion abnormalities in both sexes.
Levin
J M
JM
Department of Radiology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115.
Holman
B L
BL
Mendelson
J H
JH
Teoh
S K
SK
Garada
B
B
Johnson
K A
KA
Springer
S
S
D000328:Adult; D002560:Cerebrovascular Circulation; D003042:Cocaine; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015609:Organotechnetium Compounds; D010091:Oximes; D010477:Perfusion; D012016:Reference Values; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D012737:Sex Factors; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D019690:Technetium Tc 99m Exametazime; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon; D014930:Women
D015609:Organotechnetium Compounds; D010091:Oximes; D019690:Technetium Tc 99m Exametazime; D003042:Cocaine