Regional cerebral blood flow changes associated with interoceptive awareness in the recovery process of anorexia nervosa.
BACKGROUND
An abnormality in regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in anorexia nervosa (AN) patients has been reported. There are very few studies that have investigated the rCBF changes in the recovery process of AN.


METHODS
For eight female AN patients, we performed (123)I-IMP single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and four psychological assessments (Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI), Eating Attitude Test (EAT), Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS) and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI)) both before and after inpatient-behavioral therapy. SPECT images were analyzed using statistical parametric mapping software. We also performed correlational analysis between rCBF and clinical variables.


RESULTS
Following treatment, the patients showed significant body weight recovery. They showed significant improvement in EAT, SDS, STAI and a subscale of EDI - interoceptive awareness (IA) - but not in total EDI or other EDI subscales. Significant rCBF increases were observed in the precuneus, posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) by the treatment. Significant correlation was observed between rCBF of right DLPFC and IA score before treatment.


CONCLUSIONS
Changes of rCBF in right DLPFC, ACC, MPFC, PCC and precuneus were related to the AN recovery process and might be associated with improvement of IA following treatment.
Matsumoto
Ryohei
R
Department of Psychiatry, Graduate School of Medical Science, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, Kyoto 602-8566, Japan. rmat@nirs.go.jp <rmat@nirs.go.jp>
Kitabayashi
Yurinosuke
Y
Narumoto
Jin
J
Wada
Yoshihisa
Y
Okamoto
Akiko
A
Ushijima
Yo
Y
Yokoyama
Chihiro
C
Yamashita
Tatsuhisa
T
Takahashi
Hidehiko
H
Yasuno
Fumihiko
F
Suhara
Tetsuya
T
Fukui
Kenji
K
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000661:Amphetamine / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D000856:Anorexia Nervosa / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001364:Awareness / Q000502:physiology*; D001921:Brain / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000187:drug effects; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007291:Inosine Monophosphate / Q000378:metabolism; D007456:Iodine Isotopes / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D011581:Psychological Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D020127:Recovery of Function / Q000502:physiology*; D012039:Regional Blood Flow / Q000502:physiology; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon
D007456:Iodine Isotopes; D007291:Inosine Monophosphate; D000661:Amphetamine