Persistent Basal Ganglia NAA/Cr Ratio Differences in Gulf War Illness

Sergey Cheshkov^1,2, Audrey Chang¹, Hyeon-Man Baek¹, Sandeep Ganji¹, Evelyn Babcock¹, Richard Briggs^1,2, Robert Haley²

Decrease in the N-acetylaspartate to creatine ratio (NAA/Cr) was previously measured via magnetic resonance spectroscopy at 1.5T in bilateral basal ganglia, pons, and in left hippocampus of Gulf War Illness patients. The Seabees cohort veterans (controls, Syndrome 1, 2, and 3 patients) studied in 1997-1998 recently participated in a follow-up study at 3T. The group comparison of this new spectroscopic data indicates reduced NAA/Cr ratio in all three Syndrome groups compared to the control group, the decrease is significant in the left and nearly significant in the right basal ganglia. This finding indicates possible neuronal damage in the affected population.