title: Evidence for the changes of pituitary volumes in patients with post-traumatic stress disorder.
abstract: In pubertal and postpubertal patients with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), significantly greater pituitary gland volumes have been reported. Moving from this point, in the present study, we aimed to investigate pituitary gland volumes in patients with PTSD and hypothesized that volumes of the gland would be structurally changed. Volumetric magnetic resonance imaging of the pituitary gland was performed among sixteen patients with PTSD and fifteen healthy control subjects. We found that the mean volume of the pituitary gland was statistically significant and smaller than that of healthy subjects (0.69±0.08cm3for patient group and 0.83±0.21 for control subjects). Consequently, in the present study, we found that patients with PTSD had smaller pituitary gland volumes than those of healthy controls like other anxiety disorders. It is important to provide support for this finding in future longitudinal investigations.
authors.affiliation: Firat University School of Medicine Department of Psychiatry, Elazig, Turkey. Electronic address: matmaca_p@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Murad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Atmaca
authors.affiliation: Firat University School of Medicine Department of Psychiatry, Elazig, Turkey.
authors.forename: Omer
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Ozer
authors.affiliation: Firat University School of Medicine Department of Psychiatry, Elazig, Turkey.
authors.forename: Sevda
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Korkmaz
authors.affiliation: Firat University School of Medicine Department of Radiology, Elazig, Turkey.
authors.forename: Ismail
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Taskent
authors.affiliation: Firat University School of Medicine Department of Radiology, Elazig, Turkey.
authors.forename: Hanefi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yildirim
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D009929:Organ Size / Q000502:physiology; D010902:Pituitary Gland / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Gland; PTSD; Pituitary; Volumetric