MCS and SPECT Scans

Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients,  Jan, 2001  by Jule Klotter

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Howard Hu, MD, MPH, ScD and colleagues in Massachusetts performed a study that used single photon computed tomography of the brain (SPECT) to identify differences in brain function in people with multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS), chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), and good health. The research subjects included 27 patients who had been diagnosed as having MCS by board-certified occupational/environmental medicine physicians, and 27 healthy volunteers of the same age and sex. The research team also used, as a 'disease control,' SPECT data from 19 patients who had met the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention definition for chronic fatigue syndrome. Many symptoms found in MCS, especially extreme fatigue and mental dysfunctions, are also symptoms of CFS.

According to the SPECT scans, the MCS patients showed less global perfusion (i.e. an overall measure of brain circulation) than the normal controls. CFS patients' global perfusion was also less than normal, but it was greater than that found in MCS sufferers. In his report, Hu identified "the most influential factors for distinguishing MCS cases from normal controls were globally reduced perfusion, enlarged lateral ventricles, and reductions in frontal perfusion in the anterior cingulate regions." CFS patients showed a reduction in the posterior hemispheric regions, when compared to the normal controls. Hu says that more studies are needed to verify these findings and to determine whether the MCS brain abnormalities noted in this study are specific to MCS and can, thereby, become a means of identifying MCS. SPECT might also be used to measure changes in brain functions that occur during MCS reactions.

"SPECT scans and MCS" by Howard Hu, MD, MPH, ScD. Summary of a presentation.

COPYRIGHT 2001 The Townsend Letter Group
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