Monitoring the effects of mobile phone use on the brain by proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy
A Khiat1, Y Boulanger, G Breton
1Département de Radiologie, Hôpital Saint-Luc du CHUM, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Purpose:
To determine whether extensive use of mobile phones affects brain metabolites detectable by proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H MRS).
Materials And Methods:
Twenty-one extensive mobile phone users (average use = 5.5 +/- 2.2 years at 2.4 +/- 1.1 hours/day) and 15 control subjects were recruited and submitted to a 1H MRS brain examination at 1.5 Tesla. Data were recorded in the most exposed right temporal and pontobulbar areas as well as in the contralateral left temporal area. The ratios of N-acetylaspartate (NAA), choline (Cho) and myo-inositol (mI) to creatine/phosphocreatine (Cr) were measured.
Results:
No statistically significant changes in the NAA/Cr, Cho/Cr and mI/Cr ratios were measured between mobile phone users and control subjects and between the exposed and contralateral temporal areas.
Conclusion:
These results indicate that extensive exposition to mobile phone radiation does not cause MRS-detectable brain metabolic changes.
