Geriatrics Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Geriatrics, including details on old age, psychiatry, depression, medicine.

Novel Augmentation Therapy with Cilostazol for the Geriatric Major Depressive Disorder Patient with Deep White Matter Hyperintensities on T2-Weighted Brain MRI: A Case Report.

Takahashi K, Oshima A, Inoue K, Takeyoshi H, Fukuda M, Mikuni M

1Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Gunma University Graduate School of Medicine, Gunma, Japan.

In our search of a new augmentation therapy for geriatric patients with intractable depression, we administered cilostazol, an antiplatelet agent, in addition to conventional antidepressants to a patient with persistent major depressive disorder showing deep white matter hyperintensities on a T2-weighted magnetic resonance image and evaluated cerebral blood flow before and after the administration of cilostazol by (99m)Tc-ethyl-cysteinate dimer single photon emission computed tomography. This patient showed improvements of depressive symptoms as well as an increase in cerebral blood flow. These findings suggest a potential efficacy of cilostazol as a new drug for use in augmentation therapy for depressed patients with deep white matter hyperintensities.

Published 18 January 2008 in Pharmacopsychiatry, 41(1): 37-9.
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