Strategic Infarct Locations for Poststroke Depressive Symptoms: A Lesion- and Disconnection-Symptom Mapping Study

Nick A. Weaver, Jae Sung Lim, Janniek Schilderinck, Geert Jan Biessels, Yeonwook Kang, Beom Joon Kim, Hugo J. Kuijf, Byung Chul Lee, Keon Joo Lee, Kyung Ho Yu, Hee Joon Bae, J. Matthijs Biesbroek

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

6 Scopus citations

Abstract

Background: Depression is the most common neuropsychiatric complication after stroke. Infarct location is associated with poststroke depressive symptoms (PSDS), but it remains debated which brain structures are critically involved. We performed a large-scale lesion-symptom mapping study to identify infarct locations and white matter disconnections associated with PSDS. Methods: We included 553 patients (mean [SD] age = 69 [11] years, 42% female) with acute ischemic stroke. PSDS were measured using the 30-item Geriatric Depression Scale. Multivariable support vector regression (SVR)–based analyses were performed both at the level of individual voxels (voxel-based lesion-symptom mapping) and at predefined regions of interest to relate infarct location to PSDS. We externally validated our findings in an independent stroke cohort (N = 459). Finally, disconnectome-based analyses were performed using SVR voxel-based lesion-symptom mapping, in which white matter fibers disconnected by the infarct were analyzed instead of the infarct itself. Results: Infarcts in the right amygdala, right hippocampus, and right pallidum were consistently associated with PSDS (permutation-based p < .05) in SVR voxel-based lesion-symptom mapping and SVR region-of-interest analyses. External validation confirmed the association between infarcts in the right amygdala and pallidum, but not the right hippocampus, and PSDS. Disconnectome-based analyses revealed that disconnections in the right parahippocampal white matter, right thalamus and pallidum, and right anterior thalamic radiation were significantly associated (permutation-based p < .05) with PSDS. Conclusions: Infarcts in the right amygdala and pallidum and disconnections of right limbic and frontal cortico-basal ganglia-thalamic circuits are associated with PSDS. Our findings provide a comprehensive and integrative picture of strategic infarct locations for PSDS and shed new light on pathophysiological mechanisms of depression after stroke.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)387-396
Number of pages10
JournalBiological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging
Volume8
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 2023

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Society of Biological Psychiatry

Keywords

  • Geriatric Depression Scale
  • Ischemic stroke
  • Lesion location
  • Lesion-symptom mapping
  • Magnetic resonance imaging
  • Poststroke depression

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