Related Experiment Videos
Frontal white matter microstructure and treatment response of late-life depression: a preliminary study
George S Alexopoulos1, Dimitris N Kiosses, Steven J Choi
1Department of Psychiatry, Weill Medical Colege, Cornell University, and the Nathan Kline Institute, Orangeburg, NY 10605, USA. gsalexop@med.cornell.edu
Objective:
This study tested the hypothesis that microstructural abnormalities in white matter areas of the brain containing frontostriatal tracts are associated with a low rate of remission of geriatric depression.
Method:
Thirteen older patients with major depression received open, but controlled, treatment with citalopram at a target daily dose of 40 mg for 12 weeks. Diffusion tensor imaging was used to determine fractional anisotropy in preselected white matter regions.
Results:
Survival analysis with Cox's proportional hazards model revealed that lower fractional anisotropy of the right and the left frontal white matter regions 15 mm above the anterior commissure-posterior commissure plane was associated with a low remission rate after age was considered. Remission was not significantly associated with fractional anisotropy of lower frontal regions or a temporal region.
Conclusions:
Microstructural white matter abnormalities lateral to the anterior cingulate may be associated with a low rate of remission of geriatric depression.