(266) BRAIN ACTIVATION PATTERNS IN POSTMENOPAUSAL WOMEN WITH SEXUAL DESIRE-AROUSAL DISORDER: PRELIMINARY RESULTS

To define brain activation patterns in postmenopausal women with FSIAD during visual and olfactory sexual stimulation.

A cross-sectional study in a tertiary university hospital is being conducted with postmenopausal women with FSIAD (N=18) and postmenopausal women without FSIAD (N=5). A functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has been performed to measure brain blood flow and oxygen level dependent changes induced by neuronal activation during visual and olfactory stimuli (non-sexual, neutral, sexual).

The mean age (mean ± SD) of our sample is 55,8 ± 6,9 years old (54,2 ± 4,3 for postmenopausal women with FSIAD, 62,3 ± 10,4 for postmenopausal women with normal sexual desire). A tendency of increase in the activation of the insular lobe and association parietooccipital cortex with sexual olfactory stimulus has been found in postmenopausal women with normal sexual desire. This differential activation has not been found in postmenopausal women with FSIAD. As for visual sexual stimuli, a tendency to activate the prefrontal cortex in postmenopausal women with FSIAD has been found, in contrast to postmenopausal women with normal sexual desire.

Preliminary analysis suggests an increased activation of the prefrontal cortex with visual sexual stimuli in postmenopausal women with FSIAD, which is associated with self-referential mental activity (thus related with detrimental effects on sexual functioning). A diminished brain response to olfactory sexual stimulus has also been found in these patients. However, further data needs to be collected in order to confirm these results and expand them once the recruitment is completed.

Authors declare no of interest.