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Evidence of diffuse damage in frontal and occipital cortex in the brain of patients with post-traumatic stress disorder

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Abstract

A number of MRI studies have shown focal or diffuse cortical gray matter (GM) abnormalities in patients with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, the results of these studies are unclear regarding the cortical regions involved in this condition, perhaps due to the heterogeneity of the PTSD population included or to the differences in the methodology used for the quantification of the brain structures. In this study, we assessed differences in cortical GM volumes between a selected group of 25 drug-naive PTSD patients with history of adulthood trauma and 25 matched non-traumatized controls. Analyses were performed by using two different automated methods: the structural image evaluation using normalization of atrophy (SIENAX) and the voxel-based morphometry (VBM), as we trusted that if these complementary techniques provided similar results, it would increase the confidence in the validity of the assessment. Results of SIENAX and VBM analyses similarly showed that cortical GM volume decreases in PTSD patients when compared to healthy controls, particularly in the frontal and occipital lobes. These decreases seem to correlate with clinical measures. Our findings suggest that in drug-naïve PTSD patients with a history of adulthood trauma, brain structural damage is diffuse, with a particular prevalence for the frontal and occipital lobes, and is clinically relevant.

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank all the subjects for their participation in the study. Institutional funds of the Department of Neuroscience, University of Siena.

Conflict of interest

All Authors have no biomedical financial or potential conflicts of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Psychiatric Division, Department of Neuroscience, University of Siena School of Medicine, Siena, Italy

    Maricla Tavanti, Letizia Bossini, Sara Calossi, Fulvio Pieraccini & Paolo Castrogiovanni

  2. Neurology and Neurometabolic Unit, Department of Neurological and Behavioral Sciences, University of Siena School of Medicine, Viale Bracci 2, 53100, Siena, Italy

    Marco Battaglini, Federico Borgogni, Daniela Marino, Antonio Federico & Nicola De Stefano

  3. Neurology Division, Department of Neuroscience, University of Siena School of Medicine, Siena, Italy

    Gianpaolo Vatti

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  1. Maricla Tavanti
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  2. Marco Battaglini
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  4. Letizia Bossini
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Correspondence to Nicola De Stefano.

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Tavanti, M., Battaglini, M., Borgogni, F. et al. Evidence of diffuse damage in frontal and occipital cortex in the brain of patients with post-traumatic stress disorder. Neurol Sci 33, 59–68 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10072-011-0659-4

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