title: Mesencephalic midline change on transcranial sonography in early Parkinson's disease patients with depression.
abstract: Recently, several studies using transcranial sonography (TCS) have resulted in the alteration of the mesencephalic midline in patients with depression. We aimed to investigate and compare sonographic abnormalities in the brainstem raphe (BR) in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) and controls, according to presence of depression. Study participants totaled 61 patients with PD (29 PD without depression, 32 PD with depression) and 41 controls. Results indicated that decreased BR echogenicity was much higher in PD patients with depression (PD+D) than in those without depression (PD-D). Of the 61 PD patients, 32 (52.4%) had depression as diagnosed by psychiatric assessment, and 13 (17.6%) were excluded, due to insufficient temporal windows. Based on these results, the use of TCS with respect to the mesencephalic midline may be useful in detecting depression, a risk factor for the development of PD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Sanggye Paik Hospital, Inje University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Jung Woo
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.forename: Jong Sam
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Baik
authors.forename: Myung Sik
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003863:Depression / Q000150:complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008636:Mesencephalon / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000150:complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D017585:Ultrasonography, Doppler, Transcranial