PET Imaging and Bariatric Surgery

Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Status and phase: Completed; Phase 1

Conditions: Obesity, Morbid

Treatments: Drug: F-18 (fallypride)

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT00801827

IRB#061246

Details and patient eligibility

About

The purpose of this study is to look at certain areas of the brain that are related to addictive behaviors, such as overeating. These areas are called 'dopamine type 2 receptors' (DRD2/3) and other studies have shown that obese people have less of these. We propose that low DRD2/3 availability seen in morbidly obese subjects will change with weight loss associated with bariatric surgery.

Full description

The purpose of this study is to look at certain areas of the brain that are related to addictive behaviors, such as overeating. These areas are called 'dopamine type 2 receptors' (DRD2/3) and other studies have shown that obese people have less of these. We propose that low DRD2/3 availability seen in morbidly obese subjects will change with weight loss associated with bariatric surgery.

Enrollment: 7 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 60 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Ages 18-60 years
• BMI equal to or greater than 40, or equal to or greater than 35 if there are 2 or more co-morbidities
• Weight less than 350 pounds

Exclusion criteria

• History of substance abuse,including but not limited to alcohol, cocaine, marijuana, heroin, nicotine
• History of psychiatric disorders
• Use of any antidepressants or psychotropics in the past 12 months
• Diabetes Mellitis
• Positive pregnancy test
• Any condition felt by the PI or co-investigators to interfere with the individual's ability to complete the study
• Subjects on medications for the last 3 months, such as sibutramine, which could affect the quality of the study, as determined by the PI
• Inability to travel to Nashville, TN four times

Trial design

Primary purpose: Basic Science

Allocation: N/A

Interventional model: Single Group Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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7 participants in 1 patient group

F-18 (fallypride)

Experimental group

Description:

Subjects undergoing bariatric surgery will have Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scans of their brains using F-18 (fallypride), a dopamine type 2/3 (DA D2/3) receptor radioligand whose binding is sensitive to competition with endogenous dopamine, before and after the operation.

Treatment:

Drug: F-18 (fallypride)