Bipolar disorders
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Both diabetes mellitus and magnetic resonance image (MRI) deep white matter hyperintensities (WMHs) are more common in bipolar disorder (BD) patients than in matched controls. Deep-as opposed to periventricular--WMHs and diabetes are associated with treatment resistance and poorer outcome. This study investigated whether brain glucose metabolism by the polyol pathway--a pathway linked to nervous tissue disease in diabetes--is related to deep WMH volume and treatment resistance in BD patients. ⋯ This is the first reported evidence of relationships between abnormal brain glucose metabolism and both deep WMHs and treatment resistance in a group of BD patients. Further studies are necessary to determine the significance of these findings to BD pathophysiology.