title: Alteration of brainstem raphe measured by transcranial sonography in depression patients with or without Parkinson's disease.
abstract: The purpose of our study was to assess the alteration of the brainstem raphe (BR) on transcranial sonography (TCS) in depression patients with or without Parkinson's disease (PD) and to explore whether the different changes of BR could reflect an increasing impairment of raphe structures. TCS was performed in patients with PD, depression with PD, depression only, and controls. Using the red nucleus as an internal standard, the BR was rated semi-quantitatively from grades 1-4 with grades 1-3 determined as abnormal. The rate of abnormal BR (≤grade 3) was found to be only 10 % in patients with PD (4/40) and 5 % in control patients (2/40). The rate of abnormal raphe was significantly higher (p < 0.05) in patients with both depression and PD (85 %, 34/40) or patients with depression only (87.5 %, 35/40). TCS of the raphe in most patients with mild depression scored grade 3, while those with moderate depression scored grade 2-3, and those with severe depression scored grade 1. The different BR echogenicity score reflected an increasing impairment of raphe structures in depression patients with or without PD (p < 0.05). TCS provides a good tool for assessing depression, more severe depressive symptoms were associated with different aspects in TCS studies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ultrasound, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, China.
authors.forename: Ying Chun
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, China.
authors.forename: Hua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Institute of Neuroscience Soochow University, 1055 Sanxiang Road, 215004, Suzhou, China.
authors.forename: Wei Feng
authors.initials: WF
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.affiliation: Department of Ultrasound, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, China.
authors.forename: Yu Jing
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Sheng
authors.affiliation: Department of Ultrasound, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, China.
authors.forename: Xiao Fang
authors.initials: XF
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Institute of Neuroscience Soochow University, 1055 Sanxiang Road, 215004, Suzhou, China.
authors.forename: Cheng Jie
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Mao
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Institute of Neuroscience Soochow University, 1055 Sanxiang Road, 215004, Suzhou, China.
authors.forename: Kang Ping
authors.initials: KP
authors.lastname: Xiong
authors.affiliation: Department of Ultrasound, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, China.
authors.forename: Li Fang
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Department of Ultrasound, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, China.
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Institute of Neuroscience Soochow University, 1055 Sanxiang Road, 215004, Suzhou, China. liucf@suda.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Chun Feng
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000150:complications* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D004453:Echoencephalography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007297:Inpatients; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010045:Outpatients; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000150:complications* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011903:Raphe Nuclei / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D012012:Red Nucleus / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D012720:Severity of Illness Index
keywords: Brainstem raphe; Depression; Parkinson’s disease; Transcranial sonography