Posted by cybercafe on July 16, 2002, at 4:03:08
In reply to SPECT SCAN CONFUSION, posted by Anna Laura on July 16, 2002, at 0:18:20
wow what is a SPECT and why did your doc want to have one done? ... i've got to get me one of those
you could always do a web search on "nucleus accumbens" and pleasure.. reward... joy... "ventral tegmental area" ... "globus pallidus" ....... i have long conjectured (and this is just conjecture) that all types of depression - lack of pleasure - involve hypostimulation of the brain's pleasure centers.. which i believe is the nucleus accumbens (considered by some to be part of the basal ganglia)... i believe there are serotonin projections to this area... but that serotonin also modulates the release of dopamine in this area... there was an article on biopsychiatry.com that said prozac and a TCA and ECT all increased the number of D2 receptors in the nucleus accumbens.... while an MAOI was shown to increase the amount of dopamine in the nucleus accumbens...
but i have read far too few studies to come to any general conclusions...
.... as for the neocortex... pre-frontal cortex.... i believe there are projections from the basal ganglia to the neocortex.. and back again... so perhaps this is implicated in emotion in an indirect fashion....
happy reading ;)
> My SPECT scan showed up basal ganglia hypofunction; i made a search on the net to refresh my old studies on SNC anatomy; basal ganglia it's a deep brain structure mainly involved with motor function and integration: its deterioration is involved in Parkinson Desease ; it might be also involved in anhedonia and apathy syndrome being the richest zone of dopamine receptors : highest receptor density and dopamine "production" (80% percent of brain's dopamine being "produced" there).
> The doctor who interpreted my SPECT scan told me the results are consistent with my symptoms (anhedonia and apathy); such results also explained why i didn't respond to conventional AD treatment; i was quite relieved being confident i probably needed some dopaminergic augmentation.
> But my relief was short-lasting. I called my current pdoc yesterday and she told me she was expecting a totally different picture (prefrontal lobe hypofunction i suppose); in her opinion basal ganglia hypofunction didn't mean much to her, being inconsistent with my symptoms !!!! (at that point i wanted to scream but i held on).
> "But the doctor who saw my SPECT scan told me that the results WERE CONSISTENT with my symptoms" i muttered. "Well, yes, they might be....i should see the scan with my very eyes to give the right interpretation even though i've come to believe your mood disorder could be unrelated to dopamine depletion"- she told me.
> I read somewhere basal ganglia hypofunction might be involved with ADHD which i had as a teen-ager and that eventually faded away as a young adult.
> I'm 33 years old at the moment and don't have any ADHD symptoms what so ever (thanks god!); i was wondering if the SPECT could have shown some "traces" of my old disorder.
> Don't know what to think anymore. I know i shouldn't rely on SPECT scan as a diagnostic tool, but i got so thrilled when i was told there was some objective explanation for my disorder!!!
> Any of you guys have more clues/insights? I have an appointment fixed for July 25th and i dodn't know what i should expect anymore!
>
> Thanks for listening
poster:cybercafe
thread:112504
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020709/msgs/112515.html