Attenuation of frontal asymmetry in pediatric posttraumatic stress disorder

• Published in: Biological psychiatry (1969) Vol. 50; no. 12; pp. 943 - 951
• Main Authors: Carrion, Victor G, Weems, Carl F, Eliez, Stephan, Patwardhan, Anil, Brown, Wendy, Ray, Rebecca D, Reiss, Allan L
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY Elsevier Inc 15.12.2001; Elsevier Science
• Subjects: Adolescent; Amygdala - pathology; Analysis of Variance; Anxiety disorders; Biological and medical sciences; Brain - pathology; Case-Control Studies; Child; Child Behavior; Child clinical studies; Child Development; child maltreatment; Cognition; developmental traumatology; Female; frontal lobe; Frontal Lobe - pathology; hippocampus; Hippocampus - pathology; Humans; Intelligence; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Medical sciences; MRI; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; PTSD; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - diagnosis; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - pathology; Survivors - psychology; Wechsler Scales; PTSD; child maltreatment; developmental traumatology; hippocampus; MRI; frontal lobe; Human; Frontal lobe; Posttraumatic syndrome; Anxiety disorder; Central nervous system; Developmental disorder; Frontal cortex; Victimology; Stress; Child abuse; Asymmetry; Morphology; Attenuation; Child; Brain (vertebrata)
• ISSN: 0006-3223; 1873-2402
• DOI: 10.1016/S0006-3223(01)01218-5

Background: Volumetric imaging research has shown abnormal brain morphology in adults with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) when compared with matched control subjects. In this article, we present brain imaging findings from a study of children with PTSD symptoms. Methods: Twenty-four children between the ages of 7 and 14 with a history of trauma and PTSD symptoms were assessed with the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale for Children and Adolescents (CAPS-CA). The sample underwent magnetic resonance imaging in a 1.5 T scanner. Brain images were analyzed by raters blind to diagnostic status using well-standardized methods, and images were compared with age- and gender-matched healthy control subjects. Results: The clinical group demonstrated attenuation of frontal lobe asymmetry and smaller total brain and cerebral volumes when compared with the control group. There were no statistically significant differences in hippocampal volume between clinical and control subjects. Conclusions: Frontal lobe abnormalities may occur as a result of PTSD in children or, alternatively, be a risk factor for the development of the syndrome in this age group. The implications of the findings and their consistency with previous research are discussed.