[The bioelectric activity of the brain in dyscirculatory encephalopathy and arterial hypertension developed in the Chernobyl nuclear disaster liquidators]

Zh Nevrol Psikhiatr Im S S Korsakova. 2012;112(10):33-8.
[Article in Russian]

Abstract

The long-term effects of the ionizing radiation on the bioelectric brain activity in the Chernobyl nuclear disaster liquidators with discirculatory encephalopathy and arterial hypertension were studied. We examined 195 male patients, aged from 30 to 65 years, with the clinical presentations of discirculatory encephalopathy, using electroencephalography: 105 patients were liquidators of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster (the main group) and 90 patients had no radiation anamnesis (the comparison group). It has been found that the development of discirculatory encephalopathy in liquidators of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster is mainly associated with the dysfunction of diencephalic and cortical structures. The specificity of the neurofunctional brain abnormalities in liquidators with discirculatory encephalopathy is characterized by the predominance of the low-amplitude and low-frequency alpha-activity or by the lack of alpha-rhythm and by its substitution for the high-frequency beta-rhythm with the presence of theta- and delta-activity and by the more significant flatness of the alpha-rhythm zonation. The presence of the radiation factor in the past history is correlated with the failure of the bioelectric brain activity in the alpha band (r=0.42) that increases risk of abnormal changes by a factor of 10 (p<0.001). The liquidators with arterial hypertension are characterized by the more frequent occurrence of the asymmetry of the recorded bioelectric potentials between the similar hemispheric areas, by the more significant difference in the external stimulus response of the brain (functional tests). The results indicate the more complicated and diffuse lesion of the brain in the liquidators of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in the post-radiation period during the development of discirculatory encephalopathy and arterial hypertension.

Publication types

  • English Abstract

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Brain / physiopathology*
  • Brain / radiation effects
  • Cerebrovascular Disorders / physiopathology*
  • Chernobyl Nuclear Accident*
  • Electroencephalography*
  • Humans
  • Hypertension / physiopathology*
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Occupational Diseases / physiopathology*
  • Radiation Injuries / complications
  • Radiation Injuries / physiopathology*