The Correlation between Post-stroke Depression and Lesion Location

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To localize lesions which correlate with depression after stroke. METHOD: This study was performed in 98 stroke patients who admitted at two hospitals in Daegu in 2006. Lesions on magnetic resonance imaging were reviewed by same neuroradiologist and depression was diagnosed by same phychiatrist using DSM-III-R and ICD-10 criteria. We tried to find the correlation between the lesion location and depression. RESULTS: Depression was not related to age, sex, dominant hemisphere, underlying disease (HTN, DM, heart disease), and many lesions of interest of brain. Lesions in prefrontal area, limbic lobe, cingulate gyrus, post white matter and frontal lobe correlated significantly with depression. CONCLUSION: We found that there was a strong correlation between post stroke depression and the pathologic lesion which is frontal-subcortical circuit except basal ganglion and thalamus.