Brain SPECT imaging in children and adolescents with obsessive-compulsive disorder.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the patterns of regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in cortical and subcortical regions by Brain SPECT imaging, in children and adolescents with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) before and after treatment.


METHODS
Fourteen OCD patients (6 to 17 years old) underwent brain SPECT; ten of those subjects were reexamined after successful treatment. rCBF ratios were correlated with clinical parameters on the 14 patients in symptomatic state, and we compared rCBF ratios of the ten patients before and after treatment.


RESULTS
There was no statistically significant difference in average ratios of rCBF before and after treatment. There were significant clinical correlations between current age and age of onset of OCD and rCBF in the bilateral superior frontal, and bilateral parietal cortical regions.


CONCLUSIONS
Further investigations on abnormal neurodevelopment of cortical-subcortical circuits possibly involved in symptomatology of paediatric OCD are warranted.
Castillo
A R G L
AR
Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, University of São Paulo Medical School, São Paulo, Brazil. castillo@uol.com.br
Buchpiguel
C A
CA
de Araújo
L A S B
LA
Castillo
J C R
JC
Asbahr
F R
FR
Maia
A K
AK
de Oliveira Latorre
M R D
MR
D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D017668:Age of Onset; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000098:blood supply / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology; D002560:Cerebrovascular Circulation / Q000502:physiology*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000098:blood supply / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009771:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000098:blood supply / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon