New imaging technique shows MS's effect.

• Position: Brain Abnormalities - Multiple sclerosis - Brief article

A new, automated technique to identify shrinkage of a mood-regulating brain structure in women with multiple sclerosis who also have a certain type of depression has been utilized by a multicenter research team led by neurologist Nancy Sicotte, a specialist in MS and state-of-the-art imaging techniques at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, Calif.

In the study, women with MS and symptoms of "depressive affect"--such as depressed mood and loss of interest--were found to have reduced size of the right hippocampus. The left hippocampus remained unchanged, and other types of depression--such as vegetative depression, which can bring about extreme fatigue--did not correlate with hippocampal size reduction.

The research supports earlier studies suggesting that the hippocampus may contribute to the high frequency of depression in MS patients. It also shows that a computerized imaging technique called automated surface mesh modeling readily can detect thickness changes in subregions of the hippocampus. This previously...