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Upright MRI - Needs a study with ME-patients

Marky90

Science breeds knowledge, opinion breeds ignorance
Messages
1,253
I was thinking

As most of our symptoms are profoundly worsened upon standing,
and we already have found hypoperfusion when lying (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26708036)
would it not be valuable to do the same study, only upright ?

upright-MRI-standup-MRI-machine.jpg


I am aware this will be hard to do for many ME-patients, but certainly some will be able.
 

Gijs

Senior Member
Messages
690
I totally agree with you. Look at vasculair/bloodflow problems to the brain, organs and muscle before and after exertion test! I am 100% sure that this could be an objective test for a heterogeneous subgroup of CVS/ME/POTS patiënts.
 

duncan

Senior Member
Messages
2,240
This has been demonstrated with SPECT scans, but that technology seems to have fallen out of favor.

SPECT scans also were used in studies to evaluate treatment efficacy in Lyme patients (and perhaps inadvertently demonstrated problems with brain blood flow in some of those patients?), back in the '90's, by Logigian and company.
 

halcyon

Senior Member
Messages
2,482
This has been demonstrated with SPECT scans, but that technology seems to have fallen out of favor.
I was recently revisiting some of the SPECT papers. The impression that I get is that the hypoperfusion is not the cause of the problems but instead is a sign of the problem; hypometabolism in the areas shown as hypoperfused.
In considering the information obtained from SPECT scans, the areas of hypoperfusion can thus be considered in relation to the function associated with that brain area. The hypoperfusion is a result rather than a cause of the abnormalities seen in ME/CFS.
 

duncan

Senior Member
Messages
2,240
@halcyon - agreed. The hypoperfusion demonstrated through the SPECT studies is likely a downstream effect, and its value lies in its role as evidence, and what it might or should suggest.