The neurofunctional mechanisms of traumatic and non-traumatic memory in patients with acute PTSD following accident trauma.
Neurofunctional alterations in acute posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and changes thereof during the course of the disease are not well investigated. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to assess the functional neuroanatomy of emotional memory in surgical patients with acute PTSD. Traumatic (relative to non-traumatic) memories increased neural activity in the amygdala, hippocampus, lateral temporal, retrosplenial, and anterior cingulate cortices. These regions are all implicated in memory and emotion. A comparison of findings with data on chronic PTSD suggests that brain circuits affected by the acute disorder are extended and unstable while chronic disease is characterized by circumscribed and stable neurofunctional abnormalities.
Piefke
Martina
M
Department of Psychosomatics and Psychotherapeutic Medicine, University of the RWTH Aachen, Germany.
Pestinger
Martina
M
Arin
Tuncay
T
Kohl
Barbara
B
Kastrau
Frank
F
Schnitker
Ralph
R
Vohn
René
R
Weber
Jochen
J
Ohnhaus
Michael
M
Erli
Hans J
HJ
Perlitz
Volker
V
Paar
Othmar
O
Petzold
Ernst R
ER
Flatten
Guido
G
D000059:Accidents / Q000523:psychology*; D000208:Acute Disease; D000328:Adult; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007092:Imagination / Q000502:physiology; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000502:physiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology*; D055815:Young Adult