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Quantitative Computed Tomography in Elderly Depressed Patients

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Robin J. Jacoby ,
Raymond J. Dolan ,
Raymond Levy  and
Robert Baldy
Robin J. Jacoby
Affiliation:
The Middlesex Hospital, Mortimer Street, London W1N 8AA
Raymond J. Dolan
Affiliation:
The Royal Free Hospital, Pond Street, London NW3 2QG
Raymond Levy
Affiliation:
The Maudsley Hospital
Robert Baldy
Affiliation:
The Maudsley Hospital
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Summary

An index of brain tissue density was obtained from the CT scans of 37 elderly depressed patients by measuring Hounsfield Units (HU) in 12 predefined brain areas. Comparisons were made with 23 patients suffering from senile dementia and 36 healthy controls. As a group the depressed patients resembled the dements more than the controls, although analysis of variance indicated differences between all three groups, controls showing the highest HU values and dements the lowest. In the depressed patients ventricular dilatation, which had already been shown to predict increased mortality, was also associated with lower HU levels. The significance of these and other findings is discussed.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 143 , Issue 2 , August 1983 , pp. 124 - 127
Copyright
Copyright © 1983 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

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References

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