Abstract
Our goal was to identify brain structures with increased and decreased 18FDG uptake in patients with panic disorder (PD). There was a regional brain metabolism compared in subjects treated with cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) or SSRI.
Patients were studied with functional neuroimaging technique called positrone emission tomography (PET) before and after 3 months of the treatment. Twelve patients suffering from panic disorder were studied with [18F]-2-fluoro-deoxyglucose (18FDG PET) under the rest condition.
After those randomly six patients (3 males and 3 females) with PD was treated with cognitive behavioral therapy and six patients (3 males and 3 females) with SSRI. Psychopathology was measured by HAMA, HAMD, CGI and Panic Disorder Severity Scale PDSS).
Data was analysed by software for statistic parametrical mapping (SPM99). The patients of both treatment groups improved according to the rating scales.
After the treatment, both treatment groups showed increased 18FDG uptake in fronto-temporo-parietal mostly on the left side. On the right side (hemisphere) there was prevalence of decreased 18FDG uptake in both tretament groups.
There were changes in 18FDG uptake in both treatment groups which showed no similarity. Generally, pattern of brain metabolism was similar in group of CBT treatment and SSRI.
Right-left difference is in concordance with asymmetry of cerebral activity noted in PD patients in SPECT and PET studies