title: The neurofunctional mechanisms of traumatic and non-traumatic memory in patients with acute PTSD following accident trauma.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychosomatics and Psychotherapeutic Medicine, University of the RWTH Aachen, Germany.
authors.forename: Martina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Piefke
authors.forename: Martina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pestinger
authors.forename: Tuncay
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Arin
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kohl
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Kastrau
authors.forename: Ralph
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Schnitker
authors.forename: René
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Vohn
authors.forename: Jochen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Weber
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ohnhaus
authors.forename: Hans J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Erli
authors.forename: Volker
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Perlitz
authors.forename: Othmar
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Paar
authors.forename: Ernst R
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Petzold
authors.forename: Guido
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Flatten
mesh_terms: 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