Symptomatic plaque enhancement is associated with early-onset post-stroke depression

The association between imaging features closely associated with symptomatic intracranial atherosclerotic plaques and early-onset post-stroke depression (PSD) is currently unclear. 76 ischemic stroke patients who underwent high-resolution vessel wall magnetic resonance imaging (HR-VWI) were divided into PSD and non-PSD groups according to their DSM-V diagnoses and HAMD-17 scores at 14 days after onset. Clinical data and the imaging features associated with symptomatic plaques (including the enhancement index (EI), remodeling index, and plaque surface irregularity) were compared between groups. Multifactorial logistic regression analysis was used to find independent predictors of early-onset PSD. Spearman rank correlation analysis explores the association between clinical data, symptomatic plaque imaging features, and HAMD-17 in patients. The sample comprised 36 patients with early-onset PSD. The symptomatic plaque EI and infarct volume were significantly higher in depressed patients than in patients without depression (P