Regional cerebral blood flow after recovery from bulimia nervosa

When ill, women with bulimia nervosa (BN) show alterations of regional cere bral brood flow (rCBF). In this study we investigated rCBF in nine women in long-term recovery from BN (RBN, n = 9), i.e. more than 1 year without bin geing/purging behavior, normal weight, stable food intake, and regular mens es, and compared them with age-matched healthy control women (CW, n = 13). Positron emission tomography (PET) was used for the assessment of rCBF. The re were no significant differences in rCBF between groups. However, rCBF wa s significantly inversely related to length of recovery in RBN for the left and right prefrontal cortex (BA 10), right medial orbital frontal cortex ( BA 11), left subgenual cingulate (BA 25), right anterior cingulate (BA 32), left sensory motor cortex (BA 1,2,3,4), left and right lateral temporal(BA 21), and left occipital cortex (BA 17), as well as left thalamus. This fin ding suggests that previously reported alterations in rCBF during the ill s tate of BN may be a state-related phenomenon that remits with recovery. It is also possible that reductions in rCBF occur in a later stage of recovery from BN. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.