Abstract
Mood disorders in stroke patients are studied by using Hamilton rating scale for depression. In a selected group of right-handed patients with single stroke lesion of either the right (n=18) or left (n=14) hemisphere, we found that the severity of depression was statistically increased in patients with right hemisphere lesions. In addition, the severity of depression correlated significantly with proximity of the lesion on CT to the central axial line, which defines the boundary between the two hemisperes.
No noteworthy relationship was derived between the lesion volume and the severity of depression.
Furthermore, there were no relationship between the depression scores and the distance of lesion from the frontal pole, expressed as a percentage of the total anteroposterior distance.
These findings suggest that intrahemispheric lesion location is in some way related to mood disorders in stroke patients, and that disorderd integration of two hemispheres may be the cause of mood disorders.
