TY - JOUR
T1 - Structure of orbitofrontal cortex and its longitudinal course in cancer-related post-traumatic stress disorder
AU - Hakamata, Yuko
AU - Matsuoka, Yutaka
AU - Inagaki, Masatoshi
AU - Nagamine, Mitsue
AU - Hara, Eriko
AU - Imoto, Shigeru
AU - Murakami, Koji
AU - Kim, Yoshiharu
AU - Uchitomi, Yosuke
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by grants from the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare (Research on Psychiatric and Neurological Disease and Mental Health, 16190501, and Second-Term Comprehensive 10-year strategy for Cancer Control and Research). Yuko Hakamata is a Research Fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. The authors thank Haruhiko Shimoyama, PhD for his thoughtfulness and Nobue Taguchi, Yukiko Kozaki, Yuko Kojima, and Ryoko Katayama for their research assistance.
PY - 2007/12
Y1 - 2007/12
N2 - The neurobiological basis of cancer-related post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has never been studied. We investigated brain structural alterations and the longitudinal courses in patients with cancer-related PTSD. Baseline scans using magnetic resonance imaging were performed in 14 cancer survivors with PTSD, 100 without PTSD, and 70 healthy subjects. Follow-up scans were performed 2 years later in 76 cancer survivors (PTSD, n = 9; non-PTSD, n = 67). Using voxel-based morphometry, the gray matter volume (GMV) of the cancer survivors with PTSD was compared with the GMVs of those without PTSD and of the healthy subjects. The effects of the interactions between the diagnosis and the timing of the GMV measurements were examined. The GMV of the right orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) was significantly smaller in cancer survivors with PTSD than in those without PTSD or healthy subjects. The interaction between the diagnosis and the timing of the right OFC's GMV measurement was not significant. The OFC, which is thought to be involved in the extinction of fear conditioning and the retrieval of emotional memory, might play an important role in the pathophysiology of PTSD. Moreover, the OFC's GMV may remain constant after the development of cancer-related PTSD.
AB - The neurobiological basis of cancer-related post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has never been studied. We investigated brain structural alterations and the longitudinal courses in patients with cancer-related PTSD. Baseline scans using magnetic resonance imaging were performed in 14 cancer survivors with PTSD, 100 without PTSD, and 70 healthy subjects. Follow-up scans were performed 2 years later in 76 cancer survivors (PTSD, n = 9; non-PTSD, n = 67). Using voxel-based morphometry, the gray matter volume (GMV) of the cancer survivors with PTSD was compared with the GMVs of those without PTSD and of the healthy subjects. The effects of the interactions between the diagnosis and the timing of the GMV measurements were examined. The GMV of the right orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) was significantly smaller in cancer survivors with PTSD than in those without PTSD or healthy subjects. The interaction between the diagnosis and the timing of the right OFC's GMV measurement was not significant. The OFC, which is thought to be involved in the extinction of fear conditioning and the retrieval of emotional memory, might play an important role in the pathophysiology of PTSD. Moreover, the OFC's GMV may remain constant after the development of cancer-related PTSD.
KW - Longitudinal course
KW - Magnetic resonance imaging
KW - Orbitofrontal cortex
KW - Post-traumatic stress disorder
KW - Voxel-based morphometry
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=35548946666&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=35548946666&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.neures.2007.08.012
DO - 10.1016/j.neures.2007.08.012
M3 - Article
C2 - 17923164
AN - SCOPUS:35548946666
SN - 0168-0102
VL - 59
SP - 383
EP - 389
JO - Neuroscience Research
JF - Neuroscience Research
IS - 4
ER -
