Scans of Gulf War Veterans Show Damage.

• Position: Brain chemistry research findings - Brief Article

Brain scans of veterans who returned sick from the Gulf War show evidence of significant brain-cell loss, according to University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas researchers. Using magnetic resonance (MR) spectroscopy--highly specialized scans that measure chemical levels inside the brain--they found evidence of brain damage that causes a variety of symptoms, including joint pain, fatigue, dizziness, and mental confusion. MR spectroscopy explores brain chemistry by utilizing radio waves to measure intracellular concentrations of protons and estimate the concentrations of common brain chemicals.

Previous magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) on the veterans found no visible structural changes to the brain. By using MR spectroscopy, the researchers were able to look at brain chemical levels, which show biochemical and physiological changes to the brain.

In 1997, chief of epidemiology Robert Haley and his colleagues defined three Gulf War syndromes in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Syndrome 1, commonly found in veterans who wore pesticide-containing flea collars, is characterized by impaired cognition. Syndrome 2, called confusion-ataxia, the most severe and debilitating of the three, is found among veterans who said they were exposed to low-level nerve gas and experienced side effects from anti-nerve gas, or pyridostigmine (PB) tablets. Syndrome 3, characterized by central pain, is found in...