Changes of Cerebral Glucose Metabolism and After 12 Weeks of Escitalpram Treatment in Panic Disorder
Status:
Completed
Trial end date:
2008-12-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Panic disorder is one of the most prevalent psychiatric disorders and recently abnormal fear
network is known to be implicated in the pathophysiology of panic disorder. The fear network
involves many brain regions such as amygdala, hippocampus, periaqueductal gray (PAG), locus
coeruleus, parahippocampal gyrus, frontal cortex, and thalamus. Escitalopram, a highly
selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor, is usually effective for panic dis order, but there
is little information on how escitalopram affects the fear network.
The specific aim of this study is to test the following hypotheses using 18F-FDG positron
emission tomography (PET)
1. Patients with panic disorder will show abnormal activity of the fear network compared to
healthy comparison subjects.
2. Patients with panic disorder will show normalized activity of the fear network after
12-weeks of treatment with escitalopram.
3. The changes of fear work after the treatment will be associated with psychological
variables and neurohormones.