title: Volume of hippocampal substructures in borderline personality disorder.
abstract: Borderline personality disorder (BPD) may be associated with smaller hippocampi in comparison to hippocampal size in controls. However, specific pathology in hippocampal substructures (i.e., head, body and tail) has not been sufficiently investigated. To address hippocampal structure in greater detail, we studied 39 psychiatric inpatients and outpatients with a DSM-IV diagnosis of BPD and 39 healthy controls. The hippocampus and its substructures were segmented manually on magnetic resonance imaging scans. The volumes of hippocampal substructures (and total hippocampal volume) did not differ between BPD patients and controls. Exploratory analysis suggests that patients with a lifetime history of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may have a significantly smaller hippocampus - affecting both the hippocampal head and body - in comparison to BPD patients without comorbid PTSD (difference in total hippocampal volume: -10.5%, 95%CI -2.6 to -18.5, significant). Also, patients fulfilling seven or more DSM-IV BPD criteria showed a hippocampal volume reduction, limited to the hippocampal head (difference in volume of the hippocampal head: -16.5%, 95%CI -6.1 to -26.8, significant). Disease heterogeneity in respect to, for example, symptom severity and psychiatric comorbidities may limit direct comparability between studies; the results presented here may reflect hippocampal volumes in patients who are "less" affected or they may simply be a chance finding. However, there is also the possibility that global effects of BPD on the hippocampus may have previously been overestimated.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy Bethel, Evangelisches Krankenhaus Bielefeld, Remterweg 69/71, 33617 Bielefeld, Germany. Electronic address: stefan.kreisel@evkb.de.
authors.forename: Stefan Henner
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Kreisel
authors.affiliation: Bethel Epilepsy Centre, Krankenhaus Mara, Maraweg 21, 33617 Bielefeld, Germany.
authors.forename: Kirsten
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Labudda
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy Bethel, Evangelisches Krankenhaus Bielefeld, Remterweg 69/71, 33617 Bielefeld, Germany.
authors.forename: Oleg
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Kurlandchikov
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy Bethel, Evangelisches Krankenhaus Bielefeld, Remterweg 69/71, 33617 Bielefeld, Germany.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Beblo
authors.affiliation: Bethel Epilepsy Centre, Krankenhaus Mara, Maraweg 21, 33617 Bielefeld, Germany.
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mertens
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy Bethel, Evangelisches Krankenhaus Bielefeld, Remterweg 69/71, 33617 Bielefeld, Germany.
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy Bethel, Evangelisches Krankenhaus Bielefeld, Remterweg 69/71, 33617 Bielefeld, Germany.
authors.forename: Nina
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Rullkötter
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Charité University Berlin, Campus Benjamin Franklin, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Katja
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wingenfeld
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, LVR-Klinikum Essen, University Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany.
authors.forename: Christoph
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mensebach
authors.affiliation: Bethel Epilepsy Centre, Krankenhaus Mara, Maraweg 21, 33617 Bielefeld, Germany.
authors.forename: Friedrich G
authors.initials: FG
authors.lastname: Woermann
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy Bethel, Evangelisches Krankenhaus Bielefeld, Remterweg 69/71, 33617 Bielefeld, Germany.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Driessen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001883:Borderline Personality Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology* / Q000523:psychology*; D015897:Comorbidity; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D005260:Female; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009929:Organ Size; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000523:psychology; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Comorbidity; Confounding; Posttraumatic stress disorder; Structural magnetic resonance imaging