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Brain responses to pictures of children in men with pedophilic disorder: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study

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Abstract

Structural and functional neuroimaging techniques have recently been used to investigate the mechanisms of sexual attraction to children, a hallmark of pedophilic disorder, and have reported many contradictory or non-replicated findings. Here, our purpose was to identify through functional magnetic resonance imaging the brain responses of 25 male outpatients with pedophilic disorder to visual stimuli depicting children (VSc) and to compare them with 24 male healthy controls matched on sexual orientation (to female or male adults), age, and handedness. No region was differentially activated across the two groups in response to VSc. However, as shown by a random-effects statistical analysis (cluster-level pFWE-corrected < 0.05), in patients with pedophilia, but not in controls, the presentation of VSc induced a bilateral activation in the lateral occipital and temporal cortices, in particular in the right inferior temporal gyrus, as well as an activation in the declive of the cerebellar vermis. In addition, in patients the level of bilateral activation in the above-mentioned regions was positively correlated with ratings of perceived sexual arousal elicited by VSc. These results implicate these regions as possible candidate areas mediating sexual arousal in patients with pedophilic disorder.

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Acknowledgements

This research project has been made possible by a grant from the Programme Hospitalier de Recherche Clinique (PHRC 2008 No. 27.42; Promoter: Hospices Civils de Lyon; Principal Investigator: Michel Pugeat). We thank D. Berges, E. Bardinet, E. Bertasi, A. Burgos, N. Cohen, O. Cousson, M. Didier, N. Domanger, E. Guilloux, C. Guivarch, J. Krebs, B. Marcepoil, F. Meissonnier, P. Molin, F. Mulliez, N. Nicolas, K. Nigaud, A. Petiau, L. Tabet, and R. Valabrègue for their help in data collection as well as V. Raverot for hormonal measurements.

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Author notes

  1. Jean Cano

    Present address: ERIOS-CRIAVS Aquitaine, Centre Hospitalier Charles-Perrens, Bordeaux, France

Authors and Affiliations

  1. CESP, Fac. de médecine-Univ. Paris-Sud, Fac. de médecine-UVSQ, INSERM, Université Paris-Saclay, 94805, Villejuif, France

    Fadwa Cazala, Véronique Fonteille, Virginie Moulier & Serge Stoléru

  2. Hospices Civils de Lyon, Groupement Hospitalier Est, Fédération d’Endocrinologie, Bron, 69500, France

    Fadwa Cazala, Bernard Dauba & Serge Stoléru

  3. Centre Hospitalo-Universitaire et Université de Saint-Etienne, Saint-Etienne, France

    Véronique Fonteille

  4. Unité de Recherche Clinique, EPS Ville Evrard, Neuilly-sur-Marne, France

    Virginie Moulier

  5. Sorbonne Université, CNRS, INSERM, Laboratoire d’Imagerie Biomédicale (LIB) Paris, Paris, France

    Mélanie Pélégrini-Issac

  6. Établissement Public de Santé de Maison Blanche, Paris, France

    Christiane De Beaurepaire

  7. Antenne Rennaise du Centre de Ressources Régional sur les Auteurs de Violences Sexuelles de Bretagne, CHU Pontchaillou, Rennes, France

    Marlène Abondo

  8. SMPR-CSAPA de Fresnes, Groupe Hospitalier Paul Guiraud, Villejuif, France

    Magali Bodon-Bruzel

  9. CHRU de Tours, Hôpital Trousseau, Tours, France

    Jean Cano

  10. Centre Hospitalier Charles-Perrens, Bordeaux, France

    Florent Cochez

  11. Département Santé-Justice du Centre Hospitalier Esquirol, Limoges, France

    Taoufik Fouli

  12. Unités Tourquennoises de Psychiatrie, Pôle 59G16, Tourcoing, France

    Catherine Thevenon

  13. AP-HP, Centre d’Investigation Clinique-1421, Pitié-Salpêtrière University Hospital, Paris, France

    Bernard Dauba

  14. Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, INSERM U1060 and Hospices Civils de Lyon, Groupement Hospitalier Est, Fédération d’Endocrinologie, Bron, France

    Michel Pugeat

  15. Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle épinière, Sorbonne Université, CNRS, INSERM, Centre de neuroimagerie de recherche (CENIR), Paris, France

    Serge Stoléru

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  1. Fadwa Cazala
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Correspondence to Serge Stoléru.

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The study was approved by the local ethics committee (CPP Sud-Est: No. A00451-56) and was performed in accordance with the ethical standards laid down in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments.

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Written informed consent was obtained from all subjects after complete description of the study.

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Cazala, F., Fonteille, V., Moulier, V. et al. Brain responses to pictures of children in men with pedophilic disorder: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study. Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci 269, 713–729 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00406-018-0933-z

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