Highlights
- It is often difficult to differentiate between symptoms of depression and cognitive disorder.
- A new study states that single photon emission computed tomography, or SPECT, can help to distinguish between depression or a cognitive disorder.
- This neuroimaging technique differentiates between the two disorders by measuring the differences in blood flow in multiple brain areas of the brain.
"These disorders have very different prognosis and treatments and being able to improve diagnostic accuracy can improve outcomes for some patients." Amen added.
The authors write, "Cognitive impairment is present in approximately half of persons who have late onset depression and depression is evident in 9-65% of individuals with dementia. Studies have indicated that the prevalence of depression in patients with mild cognitive impairment is 25%. Consequently, it is often challenging to diagnostically disentangle depression and cognitive disorders from one another."
"One of the greatest new insights of the past decade is the linkage of depression to the psychology of late life cognitive decline. Raji and coworkers extend the approach to the biological substrate by an elegant imaging approach. These studies further place brain aging on a firm biological basis," added George Perry, PhD, Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease and Dean and Professor of Biology University of Texas at San Antonio.
SPECT
The researchers used brain SPECT imaging, a nuclear medicine study.
Researchers found that SPECT could distinguish depression from CDs with 86% accuracy.
In people with both depression and cognitive disorders, brain SPECT imaging showed the ability to distinguish both with 83% accuracy.
The new article is published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease.
Reference
- Daniel G. Amen et al. Classification of Depression, Cognitive Disorders, and Co-Morbid Depression and Cognitive Disorders with Perfusion SPECT Neuroimaging. Journal of Alzheimer's Disease; (2017) DOI: 10.3233/JAD-161232
Source-Medindia