CEREBRAL CHANGES IN OLD-AGE DEPRESSION - A CASE-REPORT WITH FINDINGS ON SINGLE-PHOTON EMISSION TOMOGRAPHY

An 82-year-old woman with no past psychiatric history developed a depr essive illness from which she recovered within 2 months of initiating antidepressant therapy. She underwent single photon emission computeri zed tomography (SPET) when depressed and subsequently 3 and 8 months a fter complete clinical recovery. Impaired cerebral perfusion evident d uring the depressed phase improved with clinical recovery, suggesting that the impaired perfusion accompanying the depressed state is partly a state dependent abnormality. However, the possibility of persistenc e of such impairment beyond clinical recovery cannot be ruled out.