Alterations of regional cerebral glucose metabolism using 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron-emission tomography/computed tomography and electroencephalography analysis during mindfulness breathing in Anapanasati meditation: A preliminary analysis

Chanisa Chotipanich; Supatporn Tepmongkol; Yodchanan Wongsawat; Attapon Jantarato

doi:10.4103/wjnm.WJNM_94_20

World Journal of Nuclear Medicine, Table of Contents

CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · World J Nucl Med 2021; 20(03): 273-280
DOI: 10.4103/wjnm.WJNM_94_20

Original Article

Alterations of regional cerebral glucose metabolism using ¹⁸F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron-emission tomography/computed tomography and electroencephalography analysis during mindfulness breathing in Anapanasati meditation: A preliminary analysis

Chanisa Chotipanich

⁰National Cyclotron and PET Centre, Chulabhorn Hospital, Chulabhorn Royal Academy, Bangkok

,

Supatporn Tepmongkol

¹Department of Radiology, Division of Nuclear Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University Biomedical Imaging Group, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok

,

Yodchanan Wongsawat

²Department of Biomedical Engineering, Mahidol University, Nakhon Pathom, Thailand

,

Attapon Jantarato

⁰National Cyclotron and PET Centre, Chulabhorn Hospital, Chulabhorn Royal Academy, Bangkok

› Author Affiliations

Abstract

Anapanasati is a core meditation of a breath-centered practice in the Buddhist Theravada tradition, which may have some neurological mechanism effects on the brain. To gain insight into the neurological mechanisms involved in Anapanasati meditation, we measured the alterations of regional cerebral glucose metabolism during Anapanasati meditation using positron-emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) and electroencephalography (EEG) analysis. This prospective study was conducted in six right-handed volunteer participants (two men, four women; aged: 32–67 years) who underwent ¹⁸F-fluorodeoxyglucose (¹⁸F-FDG) PET/CT scans to compare the alterations of regional cerebral glucose metabolism during normal consciousness and Anapanasati meditation states. Spectral EEG analysis was performed throughout the investigations. Statistical parametric mapping was used for the ¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT image analyses. The visual analysis demonstrated moderate-to-marked increased metabolism in posterior cingulate cortex in all six patients, while mild-to-moderate increased uptake in the whole frontal lobe was also observed in four patients and precuneus in four patients. Meanwhile, the semiquantitative analysis yielded an increase of regional cerebral glucose metabolism in the right mid-to-posterior cingulate gyrus (P < 0.000), with visible alpha waves on the frontal of the EEG findings. Our semiquantitative analysis showed a significantly increased metabolism only in the posterior cingulate cortex, but visually, there was also an increased metabolism in the whole frontal lobe in most of the patients correlating with EEG findings.

Keywords

Anapanasati meditation - cerebral metabolic rate of glucose - electroencephalography - positron-emission tomography

Full Text

References

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