Behavior of brain perfusion with spect tomography 99mTc ethylencysteine dimer (ECD) in alcohol and cocaine dependents during abstinence Comportamiento de la perfusión cerebral con tomografía SPECT-99mTc etilencisteína dímero (ECD) en dependientes a alcoho

Abstract

Brain perfusion abnormalities after an abstinence period of 28 days in a group of patients with alcohol and / or cocaine dependence was investigated. They were related with gender, consumption period and number of drugs. Fifty men and 10 women were included and SPECT perfusion was performed using 99mTc ethylencysteine dimer (ECD) with qualitative and semiquantitative section analysis. Perfusion abnormalities were observed in 60% of the patients, principally in frontal, temporal and parietal lobes. The abnormalities were focal in 58.3%, diffuse in 41.7% and bilateral in 95% of all patients. Abnormalities were observed in 68% of the men and in only 20% of the women (p = 0.01). Patients with brain perfusion abnormalities had a longer period of consumption corresponding to a median of 17.5 years in patients with abnormalities versus nine years in those with no abnormalities (p = 0.036), however, their ages as well as the number of drugs consumed were not significantly different. In conclus