title: [Pedophilia: contribution of neurology and neuroimaging techniques].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Pedophilia is characterized by a persistent sexual interest of an adult for prepubescent children. The development of neuroimaging techniques such as functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) is starting to clarify the cerebral basis of disorders of sexual behavior such as pedophilia, which had been previously suggested by case studies.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To review structural and functional neuroimaging studies of pedophilia.
  
  
  METHODS
  An exhaustive consultation of PubMed and Ovid databases was conducted. We obtained 19 articles presented in the present review of the literature.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Case studies have demonstrated various changes of sexual behavior in relation to brain lesions, including the late appearance in adults of a sexual attraction to prepubescent children. In most cases of pedophilia associated with brain lesions, these lesions were located in frontal or in temporal regions. Structural neuroimaging studies have compared pedophiles with healthy subjects and tried to relate pedophilia to anatomical differences between these two groups. The location of structural changes is inconsistent across studies. Recent functional neuroimaging studies have also attempted to investigate the cerebral correlates of pedophilia. Results suggest that the activation pattern found in pedophiles in response to pictures of prepubescent nude girls or boys is similar to the pattern observed in healthy subjects in response to pictures of adult nude women or men. However, regions that become more activated in patients than in healthy controls in response to the presentation of pictures of children vary across studies.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Studies that have begun to investigate the cerebral correlates of pedophilia demonstrate that it is possible to explore them through neuroimaging techniques. These initial results have to be confirmed by new studies backed with objective measurements of sexual arousal such as phallometry.
authors.affiliation: Inserm unité 669, 123, rue de Reuilly, 75012 Paris, France.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Fonteille
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Cazala
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Moulier
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Stoléru
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001143:Arousal / Q000502:physiology; D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001927:Brain Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology; D010378:Pedophilia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D012016:Reference Values; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000503:physiopathology