The clinical study on antidepressant response in patients with depressive disorder by regional cerebral blood flow

Objective To assess antidepressant theraputic effect with the characteristic of regional cerebral blow flow(rCBF) in untreated and treated patients with depressive disorder.Methods 99Tcm-ECD brain single photon emission computed tomography(SPECT) imaging was performed in 20 untreated depressive disorder patients,all the patients were enrolled by HAMD(24) and treated with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor(SSRI).Fourteen of which were classified as remitters after treatment,brain perfusion imaging was performed at fourth week and tenth week,and compared with 19 age-matched normal controls.Results ①The regional of interest(ROI) were drawn and analyzed:the depressive patients were demonstrated decreased rCBF in prefrontal lobe,cingulate gyrus and right temporal lobe,parietal lobe and occipital lobe before treatment.②The increase of rCBF of the prefrontal and the cingulated were found in remitters after treatment of four weeks,but there was not statistic difference compared with the rCBF of untreated depressive patients,there was significant difference of rCBF at cingulated and right temporal lobe at tenth week.Conclusion ①There are low rCBF in the prefrontal and the cingulated in the depressive patients.②The rCBF of the depressive patients with remitter can increase after treatment,we can evaluate the effects of treatment by brain SPECT imaging.