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Brain perfusion alterations in depressed patients with Parkinson’s disease

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Abstract

Objective

Although Parkinson’s disease (PD) is frequently accompanied by depression, brain perfusion deficits in PD with depression remain unclear. This study aimed to assess alterations in regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in depressed PD patients using 99mTc hexamethyl-propylene-amine-oxime single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT).

Methods

Among 78 patients with PD, 35 patients were classified into the depressed PD group, while the rest (43 patients) was assigned to the nondepressed PD group based on the scores of the Geriatric Depressive Scale (GDS). All participants underwent brain SPECT imaging. The voxel-wise whole-brain analysis and region-of-interest (ROI) analysis of the limbic areas were conducted to compare rCBF between the depressed and nondepressed PD groups.

Results

The depressed PD patients demonstrated higher GDS scores than nondepressed patients, whereas between-group differences in the PD severity and cognitive function were not significant. Perfusion in the left cuneus was increased, while that in the right superior temporal gyrus and right medial orbitofrontal cortex was reduced in the depressed PD patients as compared with nondepressed PD patients. In addition, the ROI analysis demonstrated rCBF decreases in the amygdala, anterior cingulate cortex, hippocampus, and parahippocampal gyrus in the depressed PD group. A positive correlation was found between the GDS scores and rCBF in the left cuneus cluster in the depressed PD patients.

Conclusion

This study identified the regional pattern of brain perfusion that distinguished depressed from nondepressed PD patients. Hyperperfusion in the occipital areas and hypoperfusion in the fronto-temporo-limbic regions may be potential imaging biomarkers for depression in PD.

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Acknowledgments

This study was also supported by a grant of Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning, Republic of Korea (NRF-2015M3C7A1064832).

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Author notes

    Authors and Affiliations

    1. Department of Neurology, Incheon St. Mary’s Hospital, The Catholic University of Korea, Incheon, South Korea

      Young-Do Kim & In-Uk Song

    2. Department of Radiology, Incheon St. Mary’s Hospital, The Catholic University of Korea, Incheon, South Korea

      Hyeonseok S. Jeong & Yong-An Chung

    3. Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, South Korea

      Eun Namgung

    4. Department of Neurology, College of Medicine, Konyang University, Daejeon, South Korea

      Yong-Duk Kim

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    Correspondence to Yong-Duk Kim.

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    Y.-D. Kim and H. S. Jeong contributed equally to this work.

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    Kim, YD., Jeong, H.S., Song, IU. et al. Brain perfusion alterations in depressed patients with Parkinson’s disease. Ann Nucl Med 30, 731–737 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12149-016-1119-2

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    • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12149-016-1119-2

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