TY - JOUR T1 - Unexpected activation of Wernicke’s area in tinnitus patients JF - Journal of Nuclear Medicine JO - J Nucl Med SP - 1277 LP - 1277 VL - 52 IS - supplement 1 AU - Zhe-Min Huang AU - Chuan-Tao Zuo AU - Yi-Hui Guan Y1 - 2011/05/01 UR - http://jnm.snmjournals.org/content/52/supplement_1/1277.abstract N2 - 1277 Objectives The aim of the study is to show the unexpected activated cortical areas in tinnitus patients and to investigate the possible cause of tinnitus. Methods 18F-FDG positron-emission-tomography (PET) scans of 6 chronic tinnitus patients (mainly in left side) were performed under strict auditory blocking (AB) and non-AB states. The image data of each patient was compared with data from 6 normal control subjects under AB state using Statistical Parametric Mapping (SPM). The acoustic stimulation was less than 10db under AB state and 30db under quiet non-AB environment. Results Significant activation in the left primary auditory cortex (PAC) was found in the patients under non-AB state which was consistent with previous studies. However, under strict AB state, significant activation was found in part of the Wernicke’s Area in left side while no significant activation was found in the PAC. Conclusions The unexpected activation of the Wernicke’s Area indicate that it may played an important role in tinnitus in an unknown mechanism that related with the pathogenesy of tinnitus besides the PAC which was indicated in previous studies. Further studies with larger collectives are needed to investigate this mechanism ER -