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A Single Photon Emission Computerised Tomography Study of Regional Brain Function in Elderly Patients with Major Depression and with Alzheimer-Type Dementia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

S. M. Curran
Affiliation:
MRC Brain Metabolism Unit, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Morningside Park, Edinburgh EH10 5HF
C. M. Murray
Affiliation:
MRC Brain Metabolism Unit, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Morningside Park, Edinburgh EH10 5HF
M. Van Beck
Affiliation:
MRC Brain Metabolism Unit, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Morningside Park, Edinburgh EH10 5HF
N. Dougall
Affiliation:
MRC Brain Metabolism Unit, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Morningside Park, Edinburgh EH10 5HF
R. E. O'Carroll
Affiliation:
MRC Brain Metabolism Unit, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Morningside Park, Edinburgh EH10 5HF
M.-P. Austin
Affiliation:
MRC Brain Metabolism Unit, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Morningside Park, Edinburgh EH10 5HF
K. P. Ebmeier
Affiliation:
MRC Brain Metabolism Unit, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Morningside Park, Edinburgh EH10 5HF
G. M. Goodwin*
Affiliation:
MRC Brain Metabolism Unit, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Morningside Park, Edinburgh EH10 5HF
*
Correspondence

Abstract

The uptake, at rest, of 99mTc-exametazime into different brain regions was compared using SPECT for 20 elderly subjects with major depressive disorder, 20 with Alzheimer-type dementia, and 30 age-matched normal volunteers. Uptake was referred to calcarine-occipital cortex as a reference sensory area. Cross-sectional differences between the three groups were highly statistically significant, but reflected primarily the reductions in cortical uptake in the Alzheimer group. A detailed comparison of depressed patients and controls identified decrements in anterior cingulate, temporal and frontal cortex and in caudate and thalamus in men only. These decrements were correlated with impairment of performance on a trail-making task, but were also associated with continuing treatment with antidepressants or benzodiazepines. However, most depressed patients had quantitatively normal scans for posterior parietal association cortex, and this suggests that SPECT may find a limited role in the differential diagnosis of depression and dementia. The reduced brain function in some depressed patients may parallel the findings from studies of brain structure in elderly depressives; there was a weak association between good outcome at 6–18 months and increased tracer uptake in subcortical areas.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1993 

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