Morphological and Metabolic Alteration of Cerebellum in Patients with Post-Stroke Depression

Abstract

Background: To study morphological and metabolic changes of cerebellum with multimodality magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (¹H-MRS), respective, to explore correlation between cerebellum alteration and severity of depression in patients with post-stroke depression. Methods: 60 subjects, including 40 stroke patients and 20 healthy volunteers were enrolled. Depression of stroke patients was tested by Self-rating Depression Scale (SDS) and Hamilton Depression Scale (HAMD), based on which stroke-patients were grouped into post-stroke depression (PSD group) and without post-stroke depression (CONT group). Results: Volume of cerebellum decreased in PSD group and CONT group compared with healthy volunteer (NORM) group. White matter of cerebellum in PSD group and CONT group was disrupted; such disruption was significantly in PSD group. In addition, there was correlation between cerebellum volume and FA and HDRS scores (P<00.01). The Cho/Cr and Cho/NAA ratios in cerebellum contralateral to stroke lesion in PSD were higher than those in NORM group (P<0.05). Cho/Cr and Cho/NAA ratios in contralateral cerebellum and ratio difference of Cho/Cr in bilateral cerebellum were positively correlated with HAMD scales (P<0.05). Conclusion: Morphologic and metabolic alterations are evident in patients with post-stroke depression, indicating possible involvement of cerebellum in post-stroke-depression occurrence.