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The British Journal of Psychiatry (2001) 179: 330-334
© 2001 The Royal College of Psychiatrists

Grey matter abnormalities in obsessive—compulsive disorder

Statistical parametric mapping of segmented magnetic resonance images

JAE-JIN KIM, MD

BK Life Sciences, Seoul National University

MYUNG CHUL LEE, MD

Department of Nuclear Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine

JAESEOK KIM, PhD, IN YOUNG KIM, PhD and SUN I. KIM, PhD

Department of Biomedical Engineering, Hanyang University College of Medicine

MOON HEE HAN, MD and KEE-HYUN CHANG, MD

Department of Radiology, Seoul National University College of Medicine

JUN SOO KWON, MD

Department of Psychiatry, Seoul National University College of Medicine & Neuroscience Institute, SNU-MRC, Korea

Correspondence: Profesor Jun Soo Kwon, Department of Psychiatry and BK Life Sciences, Seoul National University Hospital, 28 Yongon-dong, Chongno-gu, Seoul, Korea 110-744

Declaration of interest This study was supported by the Korean Research Foundation (1998-003-F00172).

Background Although a number of functional imaging studies are in agreement in suggesting orbitofrontal and subcortical hyperfunction in the pathophysiology of obsessive—compulsive disorder (OCD), the structural findings have been contradictory.

Aims To investigate grey matter abnormalities in patients with OCD by employing a novel voxel-based analysis of magnetic resonance images.

Method Statistical parametric mapping was utilised to compare segmented grey matter images from 25 patients with OCD with those from 25 matched controls.

Results Increased regional grey matter density was found in multiple cortical areas, including the left orbitofrontal cortex, and in subcortical areas, including the thalamus. On the other hand, regions of reduction were confined to posterior parts of the brain, such as the left cuneus and the left cerebellum.

Conclusions Increased grey matter density of frontal—subcortical circuits, consonant with the hypermetabolic findings from functional imaging studies, seems to exist in patients with OCD, and cerebellar dysfunction may be involved in the pathophysiology of OCD.

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ELIZABETH WALSH
BJP 2001 179: 0. [Full Text]  

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