Journal of International Psychiatry

Abstract Objective To study the relationship between cognitive impairment and white matter lesions in bipolar disorder(BD) type I with stable period patients. Method A total of 68 consecutives as BD type I with stable period patients were enrolled in observation group and other 60 healthy persons in control group; then to compare cognitive impairment by digit symbol test, digit span test, visual reproduction test, trail making test, verbal fluency test, Wisconsin card sorting test-modified and tower of Hanoi, the white matter lesions by diffusion tensor imaging. Results The cognitive impairment by the seven tests were all worse in observation group than control group（P＜0.05）。The FA values of corpus callosum, temporal lobe and basal ganglia in observation group were all significantly lower, while ADC values correspondingly higher（P＜0.05）。But they of frontal lobe, occipital lobe and cerebellum were no statistical differences in the two groups（P>0.05）。Conclusion The patients of BD type I with stable period have cognitive impairment in a certain extent, which may be related to white matter lesions of corpus callosum, temporal lobe and basal ganglia.

Key words: bipolar disorder type I; cognitive impairment; white matter lesions; diffusion tensor imaging