Synopsis

Depression is a heterogeneous condition. Some patients who meet symptom criteria for major depressive episode (MD) also identify with bipolar disorder (BD). Until now, there are no objective markers for differentiating MD and BD, and also for early diagnosis, risk evaluation and treatment options. We reviewed the MRI findings of structural and functional alternations in MD and BD at the time of premorbid, before treatment and after treatment with multi-modal MRI image data. The research above provided the possibility of diagnosis, finding out high-risk individuals before disease and predicting treatment effects by MRI.