Fw: Evidence of Gulf War Syndrome

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From: Ilena Rose <ilena@...>

Sent: Monday, December 04, 2000 8:26 PM

Subject: Evidence of Gulf War Syndrome

> http://www.ivanhoe.com/docs/newsflash/evidenceofgulfwarsyndrome.html

> Evidence of Gulf War Syndrome

>

> Dec. 4, 2000 (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- New information supports the existence

> of Gulf War Syndrome. Researchers from UT Southwestern Medical Center in

> Dallas say veterans complaining of symptoms considered to be Gulf War

> Syndrome do have damage to areas of their brains that would lead to such

> symptoms.

>

> In the study presented at this week's Annual Meeting of the Radiological

> Society of North America, researchers looked at brain scans of 12 veterans

> diagnosed with the worst cases of Gulf War Syndrome. Their scans were

> compared with 18 healthy veterans. They looked for any loss of brain cells

> in various regions of the brain and compared the results.

>

> Haley, M.D., of UT Southwestern, says they found brain cell losses

> found only in the veterans correlate with different symptoms and

> abnormalities of people with Gulf War Syndrome. He says, " This helps

> explain why not all patients have the same exact symptoms. Depending on

> which brain regions were damaged by chemicals in the war, veterans may

> have more or different types of symptoms. "

>

> For example, Dr. Haley says they found people with damage to the right

> side of the brain have problems with sense of direction, memory lapses,

> and depression. Those with damage to the left side have more trouble

> understanding instructions, reading, solving problems, and making

> decisions. Damage to this side can also lead to problems with movement and

> emotions. Finally, damage to the brains stem can lead to loss of balance

> and dizzy spells.

>

> Researchers say this study points to the importance of using magnetic

> resonance spectroscopy (MRS), the type of imaging used for the study, to

> validate the existence of Gulf War Syndrome.

>

> As many as 100,000 of the 700,000 soldiers who served in the Gulf War

> complain of symptoms associated with Gulf War Syndrome. The belief is that

> chemicals used during the war led to brain damage and subsequent problems.