Vagus somatosensory evoked potentials are delayed in Alzheimer's disease, but not in major depression.
Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci
; 264(3): 263-7, 2014 Apr.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-23736883
ABSTRACT
In Alzheimer's disease (AD), the degeneration of brainstem nuclei is different from major depression (MD). Thus, vagus somatosensory evoked potentials (VSEP) proposed for the functional assessment of brainstem nuclei should show prolonged latencies in AD but not in MD. In 55 AD patients, 57 MD patients and two age-matched control groups evoked potentials were recorded upon stimulation of the auricular branch of the vagus nerve. In the AD, not in the MD group, latencies were significantly longer as compared to controls. Thus, the method of VSEP could contribute to the important differential diagnosis of AD and MD in elderly patients.
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Reaction Time
/
Depressive Disorder, Major
/
Evoked Potentials, Somatosensory
/
Vagus Nerve Stimulation
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Alzheimer Disease
Type of study:
Diagnostic_studies
/
Observational_studies
Limits:
Aged
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Language:
En
Journal:
Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci
Journal subject:
NEUROLOGIA
/
PSIQUIATRIA
Year:
2014
Document type:
Article