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PET/SPECT/MRI/fMRI Studies in the Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

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PET and SPECT in Psychiatry

Abstract

Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is a serious, debilitating disorder with a wide spectrum of symptoms, including fatigue, pain, depression and neurocognitive deterioration. Over 17 million people around the world have ME/CFS, predominantly women with peak onset at 30–50 years. Given the wide spectrum of symptoms and unclear etiology, specific biomarkers for diagnosis and stratification of ME/CFS are lacking. Here the results from PET/SPECT/MRI/fMRI studies are reviewed to understand the pathophysiology and to develop therapies of this severe syndrome.

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Acknowledgements

The author thanks Prof. Andor W. J. M. Glaudemans of Department of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, for his great advice from the previous version of the chapter ‘PET and SPECT Studies in the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis’. The author also thanks all collaborators Drs. Hirohiko Kuratsune, Kouzi Yamaguti, Yasuhito Nakatomi, Sanae Fukuda, Masaaki Tanaka, Akira Ishii, Kei Mizuno, Emi Yamano, Yoshihito Shigihara, Seiki Tajima, Kayo Takahashi, Yasuhiro Wada, Kayo Onoe, Yoko Nagatomo, Shigeyuki Yamamoto, Hirotaka Onoe, Yasuomi Ouchi, Hideo Tsukada, Norihiro Sadato, Tomohisa Okada, Bengt Langstrom and Birgitta Evengard for their great contribution. This research was supported by AMED under Grant Number JP20ak0101059.

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Correspondence to Yasuyoshi Watanabe .

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Watanabe, Y. (2021). PET/SPECT/MRI/fMRI Studies in the Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. In: Dierckx, R.A., Otte, A., de Vries, E.F.J., van Waarde, A., Sommer, I.E. (eds) PET and SPECT in Psychiatry. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-57231-0_32

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-57231-0_32

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