title: Cerebral blood flow changes in patients with conversion disorder.
abstract: We evaluated regional cerebral blood flow in five patients with conversion disorder (three females, two males, mean age+/-S.D.: 29.8+/-9.5 years) with astasia-abasia. The patients underwent single photon emission computed tomography after the injection of 555 MBq of [99mTc]hexamethylpropyleneamine oxime. Uptake ratios between areas of decreased perfusion and normal brain regions were considered significantly decreased when there was a change > or = 10%. Four of the five patients had left temporal and one patient had left parietal perfusion decreases. Uptake ratios ranged from 0.72 to 0.88 (mean+/-S.D.: 0.81+/-0.08). Our findings suggest that alterations in regional brain perfusion may accompany conversion symptoms. Functional imaging may therefore offer a means of elucidating the neural correlates of conversion disorder.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Hacettepe University Medical Faculty, Ankara, Turkey. hutfp-o@servis2.net.tr
authors.forename: K M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Yaźići
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kostakoglu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D003291:Conversion Disorder / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D004292:Dominance, Cerebral / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000098:blood supply / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D012039:Regional Blood Flow / Q000502:physiology; D019690:Technetium Tc 99m Exametazime; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000098:blood supply / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon
chemical_list: D019690:Technetium Tc 99m Exametazime