Neuroanatomical correlates of posttraumatic stress disorder, should organic changes be involved in the definitive diagnosis?
Branislav Filipovic 1 and Maja Vulovic 2
1 University of Belgrade, Serbia2 University of Kragujevac, Serbia
: Forensic Toxicol Pharmacol 2015, 4:4
Abstract
Background: Studies imposing rigorous control over lifetime alcohol intake have usually not found smaller hippocampal volumes in persons with posttraumatic stress disorder. Because the majority of negative studies have used adolescent samples, it has been suggested that chronicity is a necessary condition for such findings. We have hypothesized that the volumes of hippocampus, amygdale, prefrontal cortex and the intracranial volume are reduced in the patients with PTSD and excessive alcohol intake. Patients & Methods: Study has been carried out on 54 therapies naive PTSD suffering subjects and healthy controls divided in two groups: 29 with PTSD and consequent alcoholism, 25 with PTSD but without problems of excessive alcohol intake and 25 healthy volunteers. All the patients underwent same MRI protocol and volumetric evaluation of the region of interest. Results: Only hippocampal volume appeared to be significantly reduced in patients with PTSD and alcoholism. Other differences in the volumes obtained remained to be insignificant. Conclusion: Alcohol intake definitely worsens the deterioration of the hippocampal formation in PTSD suffering patients. Hippocampus, on the first place is the structure affected by PTSD and its volume decrease indicates the severity of the illness.
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