Analysis of microstructure and blood perfusion in thalamus and basal ganglia in patients with untreated depressive disorder / 中国医学影像技术

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the changes of microstructure and blood perfusion of thalamus and basal ganglia in patients with untreated depressive disorder using diffusion kurtosis imaging (DKI) and three-dimensional arterial spin labeling (3D ASL) perfusion imaging.Methods Totally 21 untreated patients with depressive disorder (disease group) and 32 healthy volunteers (control group) underwent DKI,3D ASL and routine MR scanning were enrolled.DKI parameters (mean kurtosis [MK],axial kurtosis [Ka],radial kurtosis [Kr],fractional anisotropy [FA],mean diffusivity [MD],axial diffusivity [Da] and radial diffusivity [Dr]) and 3D ASL parameters (cerebral blood flow [CBF]) of bilateral heads of caudate nucleus,thalamus and putamens were measured and compared between the 2 groups.Results Compared with control group,Ka of left caudate head in disease group was significantly higher,while Kr was significantly lower (both P＜ 0.05).Ka of right putamens in disease group was significantly higher than that in control group (P＜0.05).Compared with control group,CBF of left caudate head and bilateral putamens decreased significantly in disease group (all P＜0.05).Conclusion Untreated depressed patients show abnormal DKI parameters and blood perfusion in basal ganglia,which indicating that microstructure integrity is impaired and blood perfusion decreases.The abnormalities in basal ganglia microstructure and blood perfusion may serve as one of the neuroimaging features of depressive disorders.