Brain Blood Flow Reductions

[Prefect]

Is there any information on which part of the brain has reduced blood flow in CFS?

I had a SPECT scan done and the only reduction in my case appears to be in the left frontal lobe (a slight asymmetric decreased activity in the left frontal lobe).

My MRI does not show any structural changes that would correlate with this reduction in blood flow.

 

[wabi-sabi]

Here is a nice article on impaired cerebral blood flow by van Campen:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/labs/pmc/articles/PMC7044650/

And here's another on more severe patients:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/labs/pmc/articles/PMC7712289/#app1-healthcare-08-00394


Note that they are measuring cerebral blood flow by looking at the carotid and vertebral arteries- so looking at how much blood is going into the brain overall, not which areas of the brain are getting blood. I don't follow other people quite so much, so I'm not sure if anyone is looking at the brain more directly.

You could try a pubmed search.

 

[Prefect]

@wabi-sabi thanks for the links. They seem to concentrate on blood flow response to upright posture.

My SPECT scan was done with me lying down.

With respect to the carotid and vertebral artery blood flow, this was the technical description of the test:

Flow images, 2 seconds per frame, for approximately 1 minute of
the vessels of the neck and head. Immediately following this static planar
imaging and then delayed tomographic imaging of the brain were obtained.

 

[wabi-sabi]

My SPECT scan was done with me lying down.

Yes, I think this is normally the case.

This is a bit out of my depth, but as I understand it, orthostatic intolerance means we have cerebral perfusion problems when we are vertical or tilted, but not when we are flat. It's the nature of the beast of OI. I haven't seen any papers on perfusion problem when flat, since I haven't looked for those. Maybe someone who spends more time in the literature than I do could look for this?

Now what the means for the interpretation of your SPECT is more nuanced. There are papers that show abnormal SPECTs in some pwME/CFS, but not all pwME/CFS. What does this mean about the value of SPECT in general? I've no idea. What does it means about your SPECT? Again, no idea.

 

[wabi-sabi]

This is a very nice review article if you feel like wading through it.
https://translational-medicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12967-020-02506-

They do a good job of summarizing which brain abnormalities we all have versus which only some of us have. There is some mushiness about diagnostic criteria, but I find it interesting that even so, there are still consistent abnormalities.

 

[Oliver3]

Is there any information on which part of the brain has reduced blood flow in CFS?

I had a SPECT scan done and the only reduction in my case appears to be in the left frontal lobe (a slight asymmetric decreased activity in the left frontal lobe).

My MRI does not show any structural changes that would correlate with this reduction in blood flow.

Did they do the MRI standing. I personally think this is why we don't get a proper result

 

[Zebra]

Hi, @Prefect

I am following your thread here.

I'm going to take the liberty of tagging @crypt0cu1t .

I *think* he had a SPECT scan earlier this year and might be able to offer you some insight, if he is feeling up to it.

 

[crypt0cu1t]

Hi, @Prefect

I am following your thread here.

I'm going to take the liberty of tagging @crypt0cu1t .

I *think* he had a SPECT scan earlier this year and might be able to offer you some insight, if he is feeling up to it.

Hey, thanks for tagging me!

I actually had an FDG PET scan that showed Hypometabolism in the brainstem, occipital, parietal lobes and cerebellum.

I've never had a SPECT scan, but my good friend @Aerose91 has!