A research on cerebral limbic-cortical circuit in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease complicated with depression

Objective  To explore the change of gray matter volume in limbic-cortical circuit in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)complicated with depression by using voxel-based morphometry (VBM).

Methods  A total of 22 patients with COPD complicated with depression were prospectively selected as COPD complicated with depression group, and 20 healthy subjects matched by gender and age were selected as control group. T2-FLAIR and high-resolution 3d-T1WI were performed, and the change of cerebral gray matter volume in both groups was analyzed by COPDAssessment Test (CAT) and SPM12 software.

Results  The results of VBM showed that the volumes of gray matter in left frontal lobe, bilateral paracentral lobules, bilateral anterior cingulate gyrus, left central and left posterior cingulate gyrus, left dorsal thalamus, hypothalamus, bilateral amygdala and bilateral cerebellum significantly decreased in patients with COPD complicated with depression compared with the control group (P < 0.05).

Conclusion  Patients with COPD complicated with depression present gray matter volume reduction in multiple regions of limbic-cortical circuitry, which can provide reference for clinical prevention, treatment and intervention.