Quantitative Evaluation of Grey Matter Volume of Thalamus in Patients with Depression on Magnetic Resonance Imaging: Segmentation Study

Purpose: The thalamus, a part of the diencephalon, controls emotion and memory; any thalamic lesion may lead to impairments in recall and recognition. There is no concrete proof that depression is the only mental condition in which thalamic abnormalities are present. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine whether patients with depression had any structural changes in their thalamic grey matter volume. Methods: The thalamic grey matter volume was measured in 50 patients with depression (25 males, mean age = 24 ± 5.02 years) and 50 sex- and-age-matched controls (25 males, mean age = 24 ± 5.28 years) using BrainSuite automated segmentation of the T1-weighted magnetic resonance images obtained using Magnetization Prepared Rapid Acquisition. Between-group and sex-based comparisons were made using Student’s t-test. Results: The mean grey matter volume of the right and left thalamus was 5.98 ± 7.03 cm3 and 6.21 ± 7.68 cm3 in patients, respectively, and 2.18 ± 4.74 cm3 on the right side and 2.15 ± 4.87 cm3 on the left side in the controls (p < 0.05). The female subjects had relatively greater mean thalamic grey matter volumes on both sides (patients: right = 6.47 ± 4.17 cm3, left = 6.77 ± 4.30 cm3; controls: right = 3.25 ± 6.55 cm3, left = 3.13 ± 6.77 cm3; p < 0.05). Conclusion: The volume of thalamic grey matter is increased in patients with depression, which is more pronounced in female patients. There is also a possible association between depression and right-sided volume reduction.