REGIONAL CEREBRAL BLOOD-FLOW IN DEPRESSION MEASURED BY POSITRON EMISSION TOMOGRAPHY - THE RELATIONSHIP WITH CLINICAL DIMENSIONS

We have previously reported focal abnormalities of regional cerebral b lood flow (rCBF) in a group of 33 patients with major depression. This report, on an extended sample of 40 patients who demonstrated identic al regional deficits to those previously described, examines the relat ionships between depressive symptoms and patterns of rCBF. Patients' s ymptom ratings were subjected to factor analysis, producing a three-fa ctor solution. The scores for these three factors, which corresponded to recognizable dimensions of depressive illness, were then correlated with rCBF. The first factor had high loadings for anxiety and correla ted positively with rCBF in the posterior cingulate cortex and inferio r parietal lobule bilaterally. The second factor had high loadings for psychomotor retardation and depressed mood and correlated negatively with rCBF in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and left angular gyrus. The third factor had a high loading for cognitive performance a nd correlated positively with rCBF in the left medial prefrontal corte x. These data indicate that symptomatic specificity may be ascribed to regional functional deficits in major depressive illness.