Minor depression and brain perfusion images in Parkinson's disease.
Depression is common in individuals with Parkinson's disease. However, the pathophysiology of depression in Parkinson's disease remains obscure. Here we compared brain perfusion images of Parkinson's disease patients with and without depression to investigate correlations between depression and brain perfusion images in Parkinson's disease. We divided 40 consecutive patients with Parkinson's disease into two groups: patients with minor depression (n = 22) and patients without depression (n = 18). We then compared brain perfusion images between the two groups. As a result, hypoperfusion of the left superior and inferior frontal gyrus was demonstrated in depressed patients. These results were partially in agreement with previous studies on de novo and parkinsonian major depression. We could not conclude on whether pathophysiological mechanisms differed between de novo depression and depression with Parkinson's disease, and between major and minor depressions.
Matsui
Hideaki
H
Department of Neurology, Sumitomo Hospital, Osaka, Japan. matsui-hideaki@sumitomo-hp.or.jp
Nishinaka
Kazuto
K
Oda
Masaya
M
Komatsu
Kenichi
K
Kubori
Tamotsu
T
Udaka
Fukashi
F