The relationship between mood disorders and MRI findings following traumatic brain injury

High rates of depression have been reported in individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI). The purpose of the current study was to investigate the relationship between structural MRI findings and the development of novel cases of post-injury depression in this population

The study has a cross-sectional design. Assessments were conducted on average 2.2 years post-injury. Participants were 54 individuals (76% male, mean age 35 years, median PTA duration 16 days) who had sustained a TBI. Depression was assessed with the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID-IV). Structural MRI scans were performed with a 1.5 Tesla machine.

The presence of lesions in the frontal, temporal, parietal and the sublobar regions was not related to depression. However, an imbalance of left vs right frontal and parietal viable brain volumes was related to the development of depression.

These findings are in support of Heller's model of emotion processing, but should be replicated using larger samples. Potential clinical implications are discussed in the manuscript.