J Neuropsychiatry Clin Neurosci 1997; 9:246-250
Copyright © 1997 by American Neuropsychiatric Association
Psychiatric correlates of MR deep white matter lesions in probable Alzheimer's disease
OL Lopez, JT Becker, CF Reynolds 3rd, CA Jungreis, S Weinman and ST DeKosky
Department of Neurology, Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pennsylvania, USA.
The authors examined the relationship between psychiatric symptoms and the
presence of of MR deep white matter lesions (DWMLs) in 28 probable
Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients with mild to moderate dementia. The
difference in frequency of psychiatric symptoms between patients with and
without DWMLs was not statistically significant. However, MR global scores
of severity correlated with the presence of ideational disturbances (such
as low self-esteem and suicidal ideation). Analysis of specific cerebral
regions indicated that the highest correlation occurred in the frontal
white matter. Thus, DWMLs are correlated with specific symptoms of
depression in AD. Whether DWMLs are etiologically related to these symptoms
remains to be determined.
