Menopause
Cortical activation during menopausal hot flashes

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fertnstert.2005.08.026Get rights and content
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Objective

To determine regions of brain activation associated with menopausal hot flashes and sweating.

Design

Controlled laboratory study.

Setting

University medical center.

Patient(s)

Symptomatic postmenopausal women and asymptomatic eumenorrheic women.

Intervention(s)

None

Main Outcome Measure(s)

Brain activation measured by functional magnetic resonance imaging.

Result(s)

Significant (P<.001) areas of activation during hot flashes in symptomatic women included the insula and anterior cingulate cortex. Sweating in the eumenorrheic women was associated (P<.001) with activity in the anterior cingulate and superior frontal gyrus.

Conclusion(s)

Activation of the insular cortex is associated with the “rush of heat” described during menopausal hot flashes. Thermoregulation in humans appears to be represented in a distributed cortico-subcortical network rather than in a single localized structure.

Key Words

fMRI
thermoregulation
menopause
hot flash
sweating
insula

Cited by (0)

Supported by NIH MERIT Award, R37-AG05233.

1

Drs. Freedman and Graydon contributed equally to this manuscript.