Chronic high-dose nitrazepam dependence 123I-IMP SPECT and EEG studies

Yurinosuke Kitabayashi; Hideki Ueda; Jin Narumoto; Hideyuki Iizumi; Hideto Tsuchida; Nobufumi Murata; Shosaku Nakajima; Kenji Fukui

doi:10.1080/13556210120056507

Chronic high-dose nitrazepam dependence 123I-IMP SPECT and EEG studies

Addict Biol. 2001 Jul;6(3):257-261. doi: 10.1080/13556210120056507.

Authors

Yurinosuke Kitabayashi¹, Hideki Ueda, Jin Narumoto, Hideyuki Iizumi, Hideto Tsuchida, Nobufumi Murata, Shosaku Nakajima, Kenji Fukui

Affiliation

¹ Department of Psychiatry, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, Japan.

PMID: 11900604
DOI: 10.1080/13556210120056507

Abstract

A patient who took 50-100 mg nitrazepam per day for 25 years is presented. (123)I-IMP SPECT (autoradiography method) and EEG were performed sequentially on the subject during and after the withdrawal syndrome. Severe hypoperfusion of the whole brain on SPECT and diffuse slow activity on EEG were demonstrated during the withdrawal syndrome and subsequently remarkably improved. However, the hypofrontal pattern on both early and delayed images in SPECT was unchanged. The changes observed on SPECT and EEG reflect the pathophysiology of dependence and withdrawal. Additionally, the hypofrontal pattern remained unchanged suggesting that organic brain damage can develop as a result of chronic high-dose benzodiazepine abuse.