Conditions: Obesity, Morbid
Keywords: Obesity Addiction PET imaging
Allocation: NA | Intervention model: SINGLE_GROUP
Enrollment: 7
Healthy volunteers: no

Brief summary:
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.

Detailed 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.

Arms:
arm 1: 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.

Interventions: intervention 1: F-18 (fallypride)
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: Subjects undergoing bariatric surgery will have Positron Emission Tomography (PET)scans of their brains using the radioligand fallypride before and after the operation.

Protocol document: