Raphe nuclei echogenicity changes in major depression

Background: Major depression is a common disorder with great social and individual burdens. Transcranial sonography (TCS) is a useful and noninvasive measure for assessment of normal and impaired brain paren-chyma. The brainstem raphe nuclei are in close association with dorsocaudal limbic system and plays an im-portant role in depression. In this study we compared the echogenicity of the raphe nuclei in patients with major depressive disorder and the control group. Methods: Thirty patients suffering from depression, diagnosed by a psychiatrist, and 30 cases of similar age and sex were entered into the case and control groups respectively. Semi-structural clinical conversation was done according to the DSM IV-TR in order to confirm the depression by the psychiatrist member of the group. Echogenicity of the brainstem raphe nuclei was assessed by a trained neurologist using TCS. To compare the mean echogenicity between the two groups independent sample t-test was used. In order to assess the strength of association between the disease and the echogenicity, odds ratio was also calculated. Results: The echogenicity of the brainstem raphe nuclei was significantly decreased in depressed patients (36.7%) in comparison with the control group (10% ) (p= 0.015, OR= 5.21). Conclusion: Echogenicity of the brainstem raphe nuclei in patients with depression is significantly lower than normal population. To confirm the results, we recommend a meta analysis considering previous articlesʹ results