Functional brain MRI in the setting of drug correction of obesity

AIMS. Study of the dynamics of brain activity using functional MRI (fMRI) in obese patients treated with sibutramine (Reduxine®).MATERIALS AND METHODS. The study enrolled patients with a body mass index (BMI) ≥30 kg/m2 . All participants underwent initial brain fMRI mapping. The obesity cohort was treated with sibutramine at a dose of 10 or 15 mg per day for 3 months. After treatment patients with obesity underwent a second fMRI mapping to assess changes against the initial mapping.RESULTS. The study included: 30 patients (86,7% women) with mean age of 31 [27.25; 36] years, mean body weight (BW) - 106 [95.75; 121.75] kg, mean BMI 37.4 [33.55; 41.9] kg/m2 , mean waist circumference (WC) - 109 [100; 114.75] cm. The most marked activation volume (via fMRI) was observed in patients with obesity (before treatment) in the visual cortex (occipital lobes). After 3 months of treatment with sibutramine, 80% of patients lose ≥5% of BW. Mean BW decrease was -7.2 [-13.46; -5.37] kg, BMI decrease — -7.2 [-13.49; -5.34] кг/м2 , WC decrease — -6.9 [-11.88; -4.03] см, p