Dura - brain SPECT, CFS

[Guest guest]

" duramater27 " <spam-barb@c...> wrote in part:

> Just took a gander at the brain SPECT and CFS literature. There are

> actually a number of studies looking at this, and frankly, the data

> are all over the place.

Arrrggh, that sux. But at least it removes part of the paradox of the

persistance of the CFS psychologization school.

According to two immense reviews, the search for immunological

abnormalities in CFS has similarly yielded a lot of astonishing

inconsistency, except perhaps regarding natural killer cell function.

Maybe gene expression assays can change that picture before too long.

Dura thanks for your points, especially re SPECT abnormalities in

unipolar and bipolar depression, etc. I never thought to wonder

whether such existed.

Have you seen Fallons chronic lyme SPECT study - I believe the one I'm

thinking of is the one copied below. I dont know the first thing about

the tech or the abnormalities; I only paid attention to the nice low p

value Fallon derived, presumably from some sort of matrix of the SPECT

signal intensities at various sites in the brain.

What do depression-ologists of the CBT persuasion think of the SPECT

results in that disease and other primary psych dx's? Do they have

hold of anything hefty to back the hypothesis of such changes being

produced in the brain by the mind, or do they rather dispute the

consistency of the findings in the first place? What about the atrophy

of the hippocampus in depression, is that noncontroversial?

Is the question of demonstrating patient benefit from CBT as fraught

as I think it is - without actually reading anything, I'll admit? I

mean, doesnt it seem like CBT could change ones response to questions

used to quantify depression, and even change clinical signs such as

posture and eye contact, without changing ones actual experience? Do

any studies purport to show brain changes by imaging as an objective

index of the payoff of CBT? If brain changes after CBT cannot be

demonstrated, is that percieved as slightly embarrassing by those who

hold CBT to be effective?

What about a disorder like PTSD which presumably is generally accepted

as being caused by experience rather than, say, infection - I think it

is associated with increased urinary catecholamine levels by at least

some studies... any brain imaging abnormalities in that disease?

While youre at it, how can an integral luminous subjectivity inhere in

the electrophysical flux of the brain, and what happens to it after

the brain ceases to function? Also, why is there a universe in the

first place instead of nothing at all?

-Captain REMERON, formerly known as " flat affect, fair eye contact,

poorly groomed "

==================================================

Clin Infect Dis. 1997 Jul;25 Suppl 1:S57-63.

Functional brain imaging and neuropsychological testing in Lyme

disease.

Fallon BA, Das S, Plutchok JJ, Tager F, Liegner K, Van Heertum R.

The New York State Psychiatric Institute, the Department of

Psychiatry of Columbia University and Columbia-Presbyterian Medical

Center, New York 10032, USA.

Differentiating neuropsychiatric Lyme disease from a primary

psychiatric disorder can be a daunting task. This article describes

how functional brain imaging and neuropsychological testing can be

particularly valuable in helping to make diagnostic distinctions. In

addition to a review of the relevance of functional imaging to

neuropsychiatry in general, recent findings are presented regarding

the use of single photon emission computed tomographic (SPECT) imaging

in Lyme disease.

Publication Types:

* Review

* Review, Tutorial

PMID: 9233666 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]