technetium-tc-99m-exametazime and Bulimia-Nervosa

Relationships of 'perceptual distortion' and 'cognitive evaluation' components of body image disturbances to brain activity were investigated. Changes in regional cerebral blood (rCBF) of nine patients with anorexia nervosa restrictive type (AN), 13 patients with bulimia nervosa purging type (BN) and 12 controls following three experiments with single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) were compared: at rest, following a landscape video presentation (neutral stimulus), and after their filmed body image (positive stimulus) exposure. Body distortion was measured with the Silhouette test and body dissatisfaction with the Body Shape Questionnaire (BSQ). Patients with AN showed a hyperactivation of the left parietal and right superior frontal from neutral to positive stimulus. Patients with BN showed a hyperactivation of the right temporal and right occipital areas. Changes in BSQ responses were associated with changes in the right inferior frontal and right temporal rCBF, whereas changes in body distortion were related to the left parietal. The activation of the right temporal after the own body image exposure might be in accordance with the aversive events' response. Functional abnormalities in AN might be related to the storage of a distorted prototypical image of the body in the left parietal lobe.

Topics: Anorexia Nervosa; Arousal; Body Image; Bulimia Nervosa; Cerebellum; Cerebral Cortex; Dominance, Cerebral; Humans; Pattern Recognition, Visual; Perceptual Distortion; Regional Blood Flow; Technetium Tc 99m Exametazime; Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon

Anorexia nervosa (AN) is subdivided into the restricting type (AN-R) and the binge-eating/purging type (AN-BP), but differences in cerebral blood flow between patients with these types of AN and healthy controls have not been investigated.. The present study was designed to elucidate any such differences using resting single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) studies to compare the differences in cerebral perfusion among both types of AN and a healthy control group. Resting regional cerebral blood flow was assessed using SPECT with technetium-99m hexamethylpropyleneamine oxime in 13 female AN-R patients, 13 female AN-BP patients, and 10 healthy women as controls with 3-D stereotactic surface projections.. The analytic program of the SPECT images showed bilateral decreased perfusion of the subcallosal gyrus (SCG), midbrain and posterior cingulate gyrus (PCG) in both AN-R and AN-BP patients, as compared with the controls. There were no clear differences between the AN-R and AN-BP groups. There were no significant differences in cerebral blood flow between patients with AN-R and AN-BP.. Abnormalities of the neuronal circuits containing the SCG, midbrain and PCG are possibly relevant to trait-related AN.

Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Anorexia Nervosa; Body Mass Index; Brain; Bulimia Nervosa; Corpus Callosum; Dominance, Cerebral; Female; Gyrus Cinguli; Humans; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; Imaging, Three-Dimensional; Mesencephalon; Reference Values; Regional Blood Flow; Technetium Tc 99m Exametazime; Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon