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Variability of brain lithium levels during maintenance treatment: a magnetic resonance spectroscopy study
G S Sachs1, P F Renshaw, B Lafer
1Harvard Bipolar Research Program, Consolidated Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
Biological Psychiatry
|October 1, 1995
Abstract:
In vivo magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) was used to determine the relationship between serum and brain lithium levels in bipolar patients (n=25). Over the broad range of serum lithium levels observed, the correlation (r=.68) with brain lithium levels was high. This correlation was much weaker (r=.39) when limited to only those patients with serum lithium levels in the range of 0.6-1.0 mmol/l. This variability may account for failure of lithium prophylaxis in some patients who have serum lithium levels in the therapeutic range.