title: Working memory processing of traumatic material in women with posttraumatic stress disorder.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is associated with medial frontal and amygdala functional alterations during the processing of traumatic material and frontoparietal dysfunctions during working memory tasks. This functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study investigated the effects of trauma-related words processing on working memory in patients with PTSD.
  
  
  METHODS
  We obtained fMRI scans during a 3-back task and an identity task on both neutral and trauma-related words in women with PTSD who had been sexually abused and in healthy, nonexposed pair-matched controls.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Seventeen women with PTSD and 17 controls participated in the study. We found no behavioural working memory deficit for the PTSD group. In both tasks, deactivation of posterior parietal midline regions was more pronounced in patients than controls. Additionally, patients with PTSD recruited the left dorsolateral frontal sites to a greater extent during the processing of trauma-related material than neutral material.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study included only women and did not include a trauma-exposed non-PTSD control group; the results may, therefore, have been influenced by sex or by effects specific to trauma exposure.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results broadly confirm frontal and parietal functional variations in women with PTSD and suggest a compensatory nature of these variations with regard to the retreival of traumatic memories and global attentional deficits, respectively, during cognitively challenging tasks.
authors.affiliation: Inserm U930 ERL CNRS 3106, Université François Rabelais de Tours, France.
authors.forename: Lionel
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Landré
authors.forename: Christophe
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Destrieux
authors.forename: Frédéric
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Andersson
authors.forename: Laurent
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Barantin
authors.forename: Yann
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Quidé
authors.forename: Géraldine
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Tapia
authors.forename: Nematollah
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Jaafari
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Clarys
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Gaillard
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Isingrini
authors.forename: Wissam
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: El-Hage
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000679:Amygdala / Q000502:physiology; D002650:Child Abuse, Sexual / Q000523:psychology; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology*; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000502:physiology; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000523:psychology*; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult