Brain Scan Reveals Antidepressant Effectiveness

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Brain Scan Reveals Antidepressant Effectiveness

New technique can predict in days what doctor, patient wait weeks to find out

June 10, 2002 (HealthScoutNews) -- Brain scans that measure changes in the front of the brain can be used to predict the effectiveness of an antidepressant within a few days of starting depression medication treatment and weeks before the drug begins to make a patient feel better, says a new study.

Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Neuropsychiatric Institute used quantitative electroencephalogram (EEG) to detect specific changes in brain wave activity that precede changes brought on by antidepressant medication.

The researchers say their finding could lead to treatment programs that help people who are depressed feel better faster by cutting the antidepressant evaluation time from weeks to days.

Up to 40 percent of depressed people don't respond to the first antidepressant medication they receive, and it can take a doctor six to 12 weeks to decide that a particular antidepressant doesn't work for a patient before trying another one, the researchers add.

The study, published in the July issue of the journal Neuropsychopharmacology, included 51 adult patients diagnosed with acute depression who took part in two double-blind, randomized trials. One group received the antidepressant fluoxetine (Prozac) or a placebo and the other group received the antidepressant venlafaxine (Effexor) or a placebo.

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Each person in the study was given a quantitative EEG prior to treatment, and again 48 hours and one week after the start of treatment.

Thirteen (52 percent) of 25 people responded to medication, and 10 (38 percent) of 26 people responded to placebo.

The people who responded to antidepressant medication showed significant decreases in cordance, a measure of brain wave activity, at 48 hours and one week. Clinical changes, where patients begin to feel better, didn't begin to emerge until after four weeks.

People who showed the greatest changes in cordance had the most complete response to the antidepressant medication after eight weeks, the study says.

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