Aberrant Baseline Brain Activity in Psychogenic Erectile Dysfunction Patients: a Resting State fMRI Study - Beyond the Abstract
It is commonly appreciated that pED is a functional disorder, which can be attributed predominantly or exclusively to psychological factors, such as anxiety, depression, loss of self-esteem, and psychosocial stresses. In the current study, a joint research team from Xidian University and Henan Provincial People’s Hospital, China, aimed to elucidate the central mechanism underlying pED using fMRI, a neuroimaging method which enable in-vivo detection of human brain activity. Their study has disclosed that the baseline brain activity of the right anterior insular and the right orbitofrontal cortex is disrupted in pED patients.
Their results implied the impaired cognitive and motivational processing of sexual stimuli in pED patients, which may shed light on the neural pathology underlying pED and may help foster new specific, mechanistic insights.
Written by:
Minghao Dong , Ph.D. Center for Brain Imaging, Engineering Research Center of Molecular and Neuro Imaging of Ministry of Education, XiDian University, Xi'an, Shannxi, P.R.China
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