Title
Thinner prefrontal cortex in veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder.
Abstract
Structural neuroimaging studies in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have focused primarily on structural alterations in the medial temporal lobe, and only a few have examined grey matter reductions in the cortex. Recent advances in computational analysis provide new opportunities to use semi-automatic techniques to determine cortical thickness, but these techniques have not yet been applied in PTSD. Twenty-five male veterans with PTSD and twenty-five male veterans without PTSD matched for age, year and region of deployment were recruited. All the subjects were scanned using MRI. Subjects' brains were aligned using cortex-based alignment in a region of interest based approach. Individual cortical thickness maps were calculated from the MR images. Regions of interest examined included the bilateral superior frontal gyri, bilateral middle frontal gyri, bilateral inferior frontal gyri, bilateral superior temporal gyri, and bilateral middle temporal gyri. In a large number of patients and controls, IQ scores and memory scores were also obtained. Individual cortical thickness maps were calculated from the MR images. Veterans with PTSD revealed reduced cortical thickness in the bilateral superior and middle frontal gyri, the left inferior frontal gyrus, and the left superior temporal gyrus. Veterans with PTSD performed significantly worse on memory measures compared to control veterans. Cortical thickness correlated with memory measures in the veterans without PTSD, but not in the veterans with PTSD. Cortical thinning in these regions may thus correspond to functional abnormalities observed in patients with PTSD.
Year
DOI
Venue
2008
10.1016/j.neuroimage.2008.03.007
NeuroImage
Keywords
Field
DocType
PTSD,Cortical thickness,MRI,Frontal cortex,Veterans
Cortex (botany),Developmental psychology,Intelligence quotient,Grey matter,Prefrontal cortex,Cognitive psychology,Psychology,Region of interest,Neuroimaging,Computational analysis,Temporal lobe
Journal
Volume
Issue
ISSN
41
3
1053-8119
Citations 
PageRank 
References 
3
0.58
1
Authors
6
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Elbert Geuze130.58
Herman G M Westenberg230.58
Armin Heinecke330.58
Carien S de Kloet430.58
rainer goebel547640.13
Eric Vermetten630.58