Moclobemide treatment of resistant depression in a patient with vascular dementia

Patients suffering from dementia exhibit depressive symptoms in up to 86 per cent of cases. Syndromes meeting the criteria for major depression are more likely to respond to pharmacological therapy. Increased activity of MAO found in demented subjects make the treatment with MAO-inhibitors an obvious choice. Moclobemide is a novel reversible inhibitor of MAO. We describe a case of severe, resistant depression in a patient suffering from vascular dementia who responded rapidly to a low dose (150 mg/day) of moclobemide.