Regional cerebral blood flow after recovery from anorexia or bulimia nervosa.

OBJECTIVE: Abnormalities of regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) have been found in individuals who are ill with anorexia (AN) or bulimia nervosa (BN). Little is known about whether rCBF normalizes after recovery from AN and BN.

METHOD: Eighteen control women (CW), 10 recovered restricting type AN, 8 recovered AN with a binging history, and 9 recovered BN participants without a history of AN were studied using positron emission tomography and [(15)O]water in order to assess rCBF.

RESULTS: Partial volume corrected rCBF values in cortical and subcortical brain regions were similar between groups. Neither current body mass index nor age correlated with rCBF values.

CONCLUSION: The results from this study indicate that rCBF normalizes with long-term recovery. Thus, altered rCBF is unlikely to confound functional imaging studies in AN or BN after recovery.