title: Reduced basal ganglia volumes in trichotillomania measured via morphometric magnetic resonance imaging.
abstract: A morphometric magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) study compared volumes of brain structures in 10 female subjects with trichotillomania (repetitive hair-pulling) versus 10 normal controls matched for sex, age, handedness, and education. Three-dimensional MRI scans were blindly normalized and segmented using well-characterized semiautomated intensity and differential contour algorithms by signal intensity-frequency histograms. Consistent with one a priori hypothesis, left putamen volume was found to be significantly smaller in trichotillomania subjects as compared with normal matched controls. This is the first report of a structural brain abnormality in trichotillomania. Results are discussed in terms of putative relationships between trichotillomania, Tourette's syndrome, and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, USA.
authors.forename: R L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: O'Sullivan
authors.forename: S L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Rauch
authors.forename: H C
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Breiter
authors.forename: I D
authors.initials: ID
authors.lastname: Grachev
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Baer
authors.forename: D N
authors.initials: DN
authors.lastname: Kennedy
authors.forename: N J
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Keuthen
authors.forename: C R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Savage
authors.forename: P A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Manzo
authors.forename: V S
authors.initials: VS
authors.lastname: Caviness
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Jenike
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000465:Algorithms; D001479:Basal Ganglia / Q000473:pathology*; D002421:Caudate Nucleus / Q000473:pathology; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003342:Corpus Striatum / Q000473:pathology; D004292:Dominance, Cerebral / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D005917:Globus Pallidus / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D009771:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis; D011699:Putamen / Q000473:pathology; D012016:Reference Values; D014256:Trichotillomania / Q000175:diagnosis*