Application of PET Imaging in the Brain Regions of the Emotional Control Loop in Patients with Generalized Anxiety Disorder

OBJECTIVE: This study uses PET imaging to observe the uptake and metabolism of 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose ((18)F-FDG) in the multibrain areas of the emotional control loop in patients with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and investigate the brain of GAD patient's functional abnormality mechanism. METHODS: The thesis clinically collected 20 GAD patients and 20 healthy subjects. Dynamic PET-CT scans were used. At the same time, (18)F-FDG whole-brain uptake and metabolism data were collected. Image fusion and semiquantitative analysis were used to measure emotional control loops. The maximum standard uptake value (SUVmax) and dynamic uptake and metabolic changes of 11 time points in the brain area at 150 min were measured. RESULTS: Compared with the healthy control group, the peak uptake of the bilateral prefrontal cortex and the average uptake rate before the peak in GAD patients were significantly reduced (P < 0.05), and the average metabolic rate after the peak was significantly increased (P < 0.05). The peak uptake of the left striatum and the left hippocampus, the average uptake rate before the peak, and the average metabolic rate after the peak were all significantly reduced (P < 0.05); There were no obvious changes in the three indexes of the right striatum and the right hippocampus. CONCLUSION: There are (18)F-FDG uptake and metabolic disorders in multiple brain areas of the affective control loop of GAD patients. The abnormal peak and rate of uptake may be related to the pathogenesis of GAD.