title: Changes of functional MRI findings in a patient whose pathological gambling improved with fluvoxamine.
abstract: Legalized gambling is a growing industry, and is probably a factor in the presently increasing prevalence of pathological gambling. We present a case of a 36-year-old pathological gambler who was treated with fluvoxamine, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor, and who was assessed by functional MRI before and after drug administration. During activation periods, the pathological gambler was shown cards as stimuli, and fMRI results in several brain regions showed differential effects before and after medication and a maintenance period. This case demonstrates that the treatment response to fluvoxamine in a pathological gambler was observed not only by subjective self-report, but also by objective fMRI results. Therefore, fMRI may be a useful tool in the diagnosis and prediction of treatment response in patients afflicted with pathological gambling.
authors: Department of Psychiatry, Chonbuk National University Medical School, Jeonju, Korea.
authors: Sang-Keun
authors: SK
authors: Chung
authors: Il-Han
authors: IH
authors: You
authors: Gwang-Hyun
authors: GH
authors: Cho
authors: Gyung-Ho
authors: GH
authors: Chung
authors: Young-Chul
authors: YC
authors: Shin
authors: Dai-Jin
authors: DJ
authors: Kim
authors: Sam-Wook
authors: SW
authors: Choi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016739:Behavior, Addictive / Q000188:drug therapy*; D016666:Fluvoxamine / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005715:Gambling; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D017367:Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D016666:Fluvoxamine; D017367:Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors