Neuroimaging Studies in Obsessive Compulsive Disorder: A Narrative Review.
Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) is a relatively common psychiatric illness with a lifetime prevalence of 2-3% in general population. The pathophysiology of OCD is not yet fully understood, however over the last few decades, evidence for abnormalities of cortico-striatal-thalamic-cortico (CSTC) circuitry in etiopathogenesis of OCD has accumulated. Recent brain imaging techniques have been particularly convincing in suggesting that CSTC circuits are responsible for mediation of OCD symptoms. Neuroimaging studies, especially more recent studies using functional neuroimaging methods have looked for possible changes seen in the brain of patients with OCD, the specificity of the findings (as compared to other psychiatric illnesses) and the effects of treatment (pharmacotherapy/psychotherapy) on such changes were observed. This narrative review discusses the neuroimaging findings seen in patients with OCD with a special focus on relatively more recent neuroimaging modalities such as magnetic resonance spectroscopy and magnetoencephalography.
Department of Psychiatry, All Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.
Arpit
A
Parmar
Department of Psychiatry, All Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.
Siddharth
S
Sarkar
Functional-magnetic resonance imaging; magnetic resonance spectroscopy; neuroimaging; obsessive compulsive disorder; positron emission tomography scan; single-photon emission computed tomography scan