title: Regional cerebral blood flow in patients suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of the study was to determine whether regional cerebral blood flow in survivors of torture suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) differed significantly from that in healthy controls.
  
  
  METHODS
  We examined the cerebral regional distribution of 99m-technetium-hexamethylpropyleneamineoxime (HMPAO) using single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) in 8 patients and in 8 healthy controls. A semi-quantitative analysis was performed in which symmetrical regions of interest (ROI) were drawn in all subjects.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Regional blood flow was markedly more heterogeneous in patients suffering from PTSD than in healthy controls. The differences are significant.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Severe psychological trauma induced by torture can cause neurobiologic alterations that may contribute, even years after the original trauma, to a number of complaints commonly expressed by patients suffering from PTSD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine and Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Nuclear Medicine, Vienna, Austria. siroos.mirzaei@nuk.wil.magwien.gv.at
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mirzaei
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Knoll
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Keck
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Preitler
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gutierrez
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Umek
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Köhn
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pecherstorfer
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002560:Cerebrovascular Circulation / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology*; D019690:Technetium Tc 99m Exametazime; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon
chemical_list: D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D019690:Technetium Tc 99m Exametazime