Simon Fristed Eskildsen1, Hanna Jrnum2, Lasse Riis stergaard1, Elena Steffensen2, Elna-Marie Larsson2
1Department of Health Science and Technology, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark; 2Department of Radiology, Aalborg Hospital/Aarhus University Hospital, Aalborg, Denmark
In this study we measured cortical thickness in 13 patients with major depression and 21 healthy volunteers using surface based cortical reconstruction. Thickness measurements were evaluated by averages within the main lobes, by surface based statistical parametric maps, and by correlation with age. Significant focal cortical thinning was found in the medial prefrontal cortex in the patient group compared to the controls which is in agreement with other studies. In consistency with previous findings, cortical thicknesses of the frontal and temporal lobes of the healthy volunteers were negatively correlated with age corresponding to a reduction of 2-4% per decade.