Computed tomography in affective disorders. Part II. Brain density.
The attenuation values of brain density were investigated in 53 patients with affective disorder and 53 individually age- and sex-matched controls by computed tomography (CT). Asymmetry of density distribution, with higher values in most regions of the left hemisphere, was found in patients as well as in controls. Patients tended to display higher attenuation values than controls. In patients, an association between higher density of the parenchyma and smaller ventricular size was observed, but not in controls. Corresponding greater density in patients, compared to controls, was found in those subgroups (women, nonpsychotics, and bipolars) that did not differ in ventricle size from controls. Comparisons within subgroups of patients revealed lower attenuation values in psychotic than in nonpsychotic subjects, lower values in men than in women, lower values in lithium-treated than in non-lithium-treated patients, and lower values in unipolar than in bipolar patients. No differences were observed between older and younger patients or Dexamethasone Suppression Test (DST) normal versus DST-abnormal patients. No correlations between age and density were obtained in patients and controls.
D000328:Adult; D000341:Affective Disorders, Psychotic / Q000473:pathology; D000367:Age Factors; D001921:Brain / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019964:Mood Disorders / Q000473:pathology*; D012737:Sex Factors; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods*