Frontostriatal measurement in treatment-naive children with obsessive-compulsive disorder.
BACKGROUND
Abnormalities in frontostriatal circuits have been implicated in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Although OCD commonly emerges during childhood or adolescence, few studies have examined frontostriatal anatomy in psychotropic-naive children with OCD near the onset of illness to determine the possible role of atypical developmental processes in this disorder.


METHODS
Magnetic resonance imaging scans from 19 children with OCD who had not been exposed to psychotropic drugs, aged 7 to 18 years, and 19 case-matched healthy control subjects were analyzed to determine the volumes of the following structures: prefrontal cortex, striatum (caudate and putamen), lateral and third ventricles, and intracranial volume.


RESULTS
Patients with OCD had significantly smaller striatal volumes and significantly larger third ventricle volumes than controls, but did not differ in prefrontal cortical, lateral ventricular, or intracranial volumes. Striatal volumes were inversely correlated with OCD symptom severity but not illness duration.


CONCLUSIONS
Our findings provide new evidence of abnormalities of the striatum in pediatric OCD. These results are preliminary, given the small sample size.
Rosenberg
D R
DR
Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pa., USA. Drosen@med.wayne.edu
Keshavan
M S
MS
O'Hearn
K M
KM
Dick
E L
EL
Bagwell
W W
WW
Seymour
A B
AB
Montrose
D M
DM
Pierri
J N
JN
Birmaher
B
B
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000553:Ambulatory Care; D002421:Caudate Nucleus / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D002648:Child; D003342:Corpus Striatum / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009771:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy; D011619:Psychotropic Drugs / Q000627:therapeutic use; D011699:Putamen / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D012737:Sex Factors
D011619:Psychotropic Drugs