Brain hypoperfusion in adolescents dependent of multiple drugs.
Brain SPECT imaging (BSI) with statistical parametric mapping (SPM) offers a clear and accurate vision of perfusion changes.


OBJECTIVE
To study brain perfusion abnormalities in adolescents' dependent of multiple drugs.


METHODS
Sixteen male patients (15.1 + or - 2.1 years) were submitted to (99m)Tc-HMPAO BSI with SPM.


RESULTS
Cortical hypoperfusion occurred in 7/16 patients (44%). There was a significant inverse correlation between the number of hypoperfused regions and the patient's age (p= -0.6737; p=0.004) and with the age when the drug dependence began (p= -0.5616; p=0.023). There was also a tendency towards an inverse correlation between regions of hypoperfusion and the duration of the drug dependence.


CONCLUSIONS
BSI with SPM can help detect hypoperfusion in adolescents dependent on multiple drugs. The younger the patients, the more regions of hypoperfusion are noted. Probably, the neuronal plasticity has an important role in this phenomenon because the highest neural activity occurs in childhood.
Etchebehere
Elba Cristina Sá de Camargo
EC
Division of Nuclear Medicine, Department of Radiology, School of Medical Sciences, Campinas State University, Campinas, SP, Brazil. elba@mn-d.com
Oliveira
Felipe Martins
FM
Amorim
Bárbara Juarez
BJ
Serrat
Saulo Monte
SM
Camargo
Edwaldo Eduardo
EE
D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D001921:Brain / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002648:Child; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D019690:Technetium Tc 99m Exametazime; D013997:Time Factors; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon
D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D019690:Technetium Tc 99m Exametazime