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Veterans of the first Gulf War with high levels of neuropsychological symptoms show significant structural differences on MRI, compared with Gulf War veterans without numerous symptoms, according to a new research. Veterans of the first Gulf War with high levels of neuropsychological symptoms show significant structural differences on MRI, compared with Gulf War veterans without numerous symptoms, according to research presented Monday at the 59th annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology underway in Boston.

The study involved 36 ‘healthy’ veterans of the first Gulf War (1990-1991). Half of the veterans had more than five symptoms, such as joint pain, fatigue, forgetfulness, headaches, skin rash, nausea and difficulty concentrating. The other half had five or fewer symptoms.

The high-symptom Gulf War veterans had significantly smaller rostral anterior cingulate gyrus volumes and smaller overall cortex volumes on MRI than did the low-symptom Gulf War veterans, study presenter Dr. Roberta White of Boston University School of Public Health reported.

The rostral anterior cingulate gyrus was six per cent smaller and the overall cortex was five per cent smaller in those with more symptoms. There was also a trend towards a significantly smaller volume of the posterior cingulate gyrus and caudate nucleus in the high-symptom group.

Dr. White also noted that "structural imaging findings correlated with findings on neuropsychological testing," such that high-symptom Gulf War veterans with smaller cingulate gyrus volumes and overall cortex volumes performed poorly on tests of learning and memory.

"We don't know the cause of these differences in the veterans' brain volumes, but the hypothesis is that they are related to exposure to hazardous substances during the first Gulf War," Dr. White noted in a written statement.

The finding of structural differences on MRI between high- and low-symptom Gulf War veterans and their correlation with neuropsychological test results is important, Dr. White told a gathering of reporters Monday.

She noted that the Institute of Medicine and other groups have "come out more or less stating that Gulf War veterans have psychiatric disease or they are imagining what's wrong with them and that there is no physical basis for the kinds of symptoms they complain about since the war."

"It took 20 years to figure out the effects of Agent Orange in Vietnam; so we are 16 years after the Gulf War and we are finally starting to see what's happening to the health and central nervous system function of these veterans," she concluded.