title: Changes in the regional cerebral blood flow detected by arterial spin labeling after 6-week escitalopram treatment for major depressive disorder.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  A few studies have used pseudo-continuous arterial spin labeling (pCASL) to assess the regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). However, rCBF changes during treatment with escitalopram have not been studied in detail. We used pCASL to investigate the effect of 6-week escitalopram treatment on the rCBF in MDD patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  We subjected 53 MDD patients and 36 controls to pCASL (T1, baseline). The patients then received treatment with escitalopram for 6 weeks and 27 were scanned again (T2). We used selected regions of interest that exhibited differences between the controls and patients at T1 and compared the T2 rCBF in the patients with the T1 rCBF of the controls. We also compared the T1 and T2 rCBF in the patients to assess their response to escitalopram.
  
  
  RESULTS
  After 6-week treatment with escitalopram, the rCBF in the patients' left inferior temporal gyri, the middle- and inferior frontal gyri, and the subgenual anterior cingulate, which had been higher at T1 than in the controls, was decreased. Their rCBF in the right lingual gyrus remained significantly lower at T2.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We did not have a placebo-control group and the number of patients available at T2 was small.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In MDD patients, 6-week escitalopram treatment elicited significant rCBF changes toward normalization in most of the areas that had shown significant differences between the patients and the controls at T1. The persistence of rCBF anomalies in the right lingual gyrus may be a trait marker of MDD.
authors.affiliation: Diagnostic Radiology, Graduate School and Institute of Biomedical and Health Sciences, Hiroshima University, Kasumi 1-2-3, Minami-ku, Hiroshima 734-8551, Japan. Electronic address: kaichi@hiroshima-u.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Yoko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kaichi
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Neurosciences, Division of Frontier Medical Science, Programs for Biomedical Research, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Hiroshima University, Kasumi 1-2-3, Minami-ku, Hiroshima 734-8551, Japan.
authors.forename: Go
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Okada
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Neurosciences, Division of Frontier Medical Science, Programs for Biomedical Research, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Hiroshima University, Kasumi 1-2-3, Minami-ku, Hiroshima 734-8551, Japan.
authors.forename: Masahiro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Takamura
authors.affiliation: Daijikai Mihara Hospital, Nakano-cho 6-31-1, Mihara, Hiroshima 723-0003, Japan.
authors.forename: Shigeru
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Toki
authors.affiliation: Radiology, Hiroshima University Hospital, Kasumi 1-2-3, Minami-ku, Hiroshima 734-8551, Japan.
authors.forename: Yuji
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Akiyama
authors.affiliation: Diagnostic Radiology, Graduate School and Institute of Biomedical and Health Sciences, Hiroshima University, Kasumi 1-2-3, Minami-ku, Hiroshima 734-8551, Japan.
authors.forename: Toru
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Higaki
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, National Center for Child Health and Development, 2-10-1 Okura, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo 157-8535, Japan.
authors.forename: Yoshiko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Matsubara
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Neurosciences, Division of Frontier Medical Science, Programs for Biomedical Research, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Hiroshima University, Kasumi 1-2-3, Minami-ku, Hiroshima 734-8551, Japan.
authors.forename: Yasumasa
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Okamoto
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Neurosciences, Division of Frontier Medical Science, Programs for Biomedical Research, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Hiroshima University, Kasumi 1-2-3, Minami-ku, Hiroshima 734-8551, Japan.
authors.forename: Shigeto
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yamawaki
authors.affiliation: Diagnostic Radiology, Graduate School and Institute of Biomedical and Health Sciences, Hiroshima University, Kasumi 1-2-3, Minami-ku, Hiroshima 734-8551, Japan.
authors.forename: Kazuo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Awai
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001921:Brain / Q000098:blood supply*; D002560:Cerebrovascular Circulation / Q000502:physiology*; D015283:Citalopram / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013113:Spin Labels; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D013113:Spin Labels; D015283:Citalopram