[The fMRI study of the calculation tasks in normal aged volunteers].
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the feasibility and cortex activation of fMRI in aged volunteers during the performance of calculation tasks.


METHODS
Internal mental calculation tasks including simple tasks and complicated tasks were conducted in 11 normal aged volunteers. The fMRI data was postprocessed using SPM99 to reveal the activated cortex.


RESULTS
The simple calculation tasks were fulfilled satisfactorily in all aged subjects. Cortex in the bilateral Superior parietal lobule, inferior parietal lobule and bilateral occipital lobes showed activation. We found a selective enhancement of fMRI signal in Brodmann regions 9, 10 and 46 in the complicated tasks.


CONCLUSIONS
fMRI tasks are feasible in aged people and more cortex of the left frontal lobe shows activation in complicated calculation tasks.
Xie
Sheng
S
Department of Radiology, Peking University First Hospital, Beijing 100034, China.
Xiao
Jiangxi
J
Jiang
Xuexiang
X
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male