MRIS of former embassy staff in Cuba intriguing

Study finds previously unseen tissue patterns

CHICAGO — Advanced brain scans found perplexing differences in U.S. diplomats who say they developed concussion-like symptoms after working in Cuba, a finding that only heightens the mystery of what happened to them, a new study says.

Extensive imaging tests showed that the workers had less white matter than a comparison group of healthy people as well as other structural differences, researchers said.

While they had expected the cerebellum, near the brain stem, to be affected given the workers’ reported symptoms — balance problems, sleep and thinking difficulties, headaches and other complaints — they found unique patterns in tissue connecting brain regions.

Ragini Verma, a University of Pennsylvania brain imaging specialist and the lead author, said the patterns were unlike anything she’s seen from brain diseases or injuries.

Co-author Dr. Randel Swanson said “there’s no question that something happened” but imaging tests can’t determine what it was.

An outside expert said the study doesn’t confirm that any brain injury occurred or that the brain differences resulted from the strange experiences the diplomats said happened in Cuba.

Dozens of U.S. diplomats, family members and other workers sought exams. The new study reports on 40 of them tested at the University of Pennsylvania. A group analysis of results from advanced MRI scans found brain differences in the diplomat group compared with 48 healthy people with similar ages and ethnic background.

Workers had MRI tests about six months after reporting problems, but because their brains were not scanned before their Cuba stints, it cannot be determined whether anything changed in their brains, a drawback of the study that the researchers acknowledge.