Structural magnetic resonance imaging in anxiety disorders: an update of research findings.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of the present report is to present a systematic and critical review of the more recent literature data about structural abnormalities detected by magnetic resonance in anxiety disorders.


METHODS
A review of the literature in the last five years was conducted by a search of the Medline, Lilacs and SciELO indexing services using the following key words: "anxiety", "panic", "agoraphobia", "social anxiety", "posttraumatic" and "obsessive-compulsive", crossed one by one with "magnetic resonance", "voxel-based", "ROI" and "morphometry".


RESULTS
We selected 134 articles and 41 of them were included in our review. Recent studies have shown significant morphological abnormalities in various brain regions of patients with anxiety disorders and healthy controls. Despite some apparently contradictory findings, perhaps reflecting the variability and limitations of the methodologies used, certain brain regions appear to be altered in a consistent and relatively specific manner in some anxiety disorders. These include the hippocampus and the anterior cingulate cortex in posttraumatic stress disorder and the orbitofrontal cortex in obsessive-compulsive disorder.


CONCLUSIONS
The present review indicates that structural neuroimaging has contributed to a better understanding of the neurobiology of anxiety disorders. Further development of neuroimaging techniques, better sample standardization and the integration of data across neuroimaging modalities may extend progress in this area.
Ferrari
Maria Cecília Freitas
MC
Department of Neurology, Psychiatry and Medical Psychology, Medical School of Ribeirão Preto, Universidade São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil.
Busatto
Geraldo F
GF
McGuire
Philip K
PK
Crippa
José Alexandre S
JA
D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000473:pathology*; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D009771:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / Q000473:pathology; D016584:Panic Disorder / Q000473:pathology; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000473:pathology