Test may help predict depression treatment success

NEW YORK, Apr 13 (Reuters) A brain imaging technique called functional MRI may help spot those individuals with ''unipolar'' depression who are likely to respond to cognitive behavior therapy (CBT), research suggests.

''Bipolar'' depression (also called manic depression) is marked by extreme mood swings from euphoria and excessive energy to severe depression and hopelessness. ''Unipolar'' depression is marked by only one half of the equation that makes up the bipolar disorder.

''By examining brain function before treatment,'' Dr. Greg J.

Siegle from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine told Reuters Health, ''it may be possible to give cognitive therapy to just those patients for whom it is most likely to be effective, thereby improving treatment rates and decreasing patient burden.'' Siegle and colleagues performed MRI on 14 unmedicated depressed patients and 21 comparison subjects who had never been depressed.

This was done during performance of a task sensitive to sustained emotional information processing. The investigators repeated testing of the depressed patients after 16 sessions of CBT.

The team found that low sustained reactivity to negative words in a certain area of the brain was strongly associated with a reduction in depression after CBT. High sustained reactivity to negative words in a different area of the brain was also associated with improved treatment response.

Siegle and his colleagues are conducting a larger study to investigate whether the same mechanisms that predict response to CBT change upon recovery. ''In addition, we are looking forward to performing similar studies with patients who are receiving medications,'' Siegle said.

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