Changes in regional cerebral blood flow demonstrated by 99mTc-HMPAO SPECT in euthymic bipolar patients.
Single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) with 99mTc-HMPAO was used to compare regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in patients with bipolar disorder and in healthy controls. The sample of this study consisted of 16 euthymic bipolar patients who met the DSM-IV criteria and 10 healthy control subjects. The mean regional cerebral blood flow values of the bipolar euthymic patients were significantly lower than those of the controls in the bilateral medial-basal temporal, occipital; medial frontal; parietal regions and in the cingulate gyrus; the hypoperfusion in the cingulate had the highest significant P value (.001, Bonferroni correction). No significant differences in rCBF emerged between right and left-brain regions. The most important findings of the current study are the presence of regional cerebral perfusion alterations, particularly in the cingulate gyrus in the euthymic bipolar patients. Our results imply that underlying brain dysfunction may be independent from manic or depressive episodes in bipolar disorder. Because of the small number of subjects, however, this finding should be viewed as preliminary.
Culha
Atesci Figen
AF
Faculty of Medicine, Psychiatry Department, Pamukkale University, Denizli, Turkey. fatesci@yahoo.com
Osman
Ozdel
O
Dogangün
Yuksel
Y
Filiz
Karadag
K
Suna
Kirac
K
Kalkan
Oguzhanoglu Nalan
ON
Gulfizar
Varma
V
Beyza
Akdag
A
D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect / Q000502:physiology*; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000503:physiopathology; D001921:Brain / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000503:physiopathology; D001931:Brain Mapping; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002560:Cerebrovascular Circulation / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals / Q000378:metabolism; D012016:Reference Values; D019690:Technetium Tc 99m Exametazime / Q000378:metabolism; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon
D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D019690:Technetium Tc 99m Exametazime