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Computed Tomography in the Elderly 3. Affective Disorder

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Robin J. Jacoby  and
Raymond Levy
Robin J. Jacoby
Affiliation:
The Bethlem Royal and Maudsley Hospitals and the Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AF
Raymond Levy
Affiliation:
The Bethlem Royal and Maudsley Hospitals and the Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AF
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Summary

Clinical and computed tomographic (CT) data on a consecutive series of 41 elderly patients with affective disorders are presented, and comparisons made with a group of 50 healthy controls. In both groups ventricular size increased with age, but only in the controls was there an age correlation with sulcal widening. Using clinical and radiological criteria, the prevalence of cerebrovascular disease in the patient group was 12 per cent. A sub-group of patients with enlarged ventricles emerged, whose first depression began later in life, and who at the time of this study were older and showed more ‘endogenous’ features than the remainder. It is suggested that this provides further evidence that organic cerebral factors may have aetiological significance in some depressions of old age.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 136 , Issue 3 , March 1980 , pp. 270 - 275
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1980 

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