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Regional cerebral blood flow in weight-restored anorexia nervosa: a preliminary study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 April 2001

Maria Råstam
Affiliation:
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Kungsgatan, Göteborg, Sweden.
Jan Bjure
Affiliation:
Department of Pediatric Clinical Physiology, Kungsgatan, Göteborg, Sweden.
Eleonor Vestergren
Affiliation:
Department of Radiation Physics, Kungsgatan, Göteborg, Sweden.
Paul Uvebrant
Affiliation:
Department of Pediatrics, Kungsgatan, Göteborg, Sweden.
I Carina Gillberg
Affiliation:
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Kungsgatan, Göteborg, Sweden.
Elisabet Wentz
Affiliation:
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Kungsgatan, Göteborg, Sweden.
Christopher Gillberg
Affiliation:
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Kungsgatan, Göteborg, Sweden.
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Abstract

Twenty-one individuals (19 females, two males) with teenage- onset anorexia nervosa (AN), 19 of whom were weight restored, were assessed using single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) 7 years after onset of AN, at a mean age of 22 years. For comparison we recruited a younger group without neuropsychiatric disorder (mean age 9:8 years; five females, four males) who underwent SPECT at follow-up after an operation for coarctation of the aorta or because of lymphatic leukaemia. Ethical considerations precluded the study of regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in participants with completely normal development. The group with AN showed marked hypoperfusion of temporal, parietal, occipital, and orbitofrontal lobes compared to the contrast group. rCBF was not correlated to body mass index in any of the groups. Results suggest that, even long after re-feeding has occurred, AN may be associated with moderate to severe cerebral blood flow hypoperfusion in the temporoparietal (or temporoparietooccipital) region and in the orbitofrontal region. A limitation of the study is that the young contrast group in this study could be expected to have a higher global rCBF than the group with AN. However, this should not significantly affect the relative values used in this study.

Type
Original Articles
Copyright
© 2001 Mac Keith Press

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