A voxel-based analysis of cerebral blood flow abnormalities in obsessive-compulsive disorder using pseudo-continuous arterial spin labeling MRI

• Published in: PLOS ONE Vol. 15; no. 7; p. e0236512
• Main Authors: Momosaka, Daichi, Togao, Osamu, Hiwatashi, Akio, Yamashita, Koji, Kikuchi, Kazufumi, Tomiyama, Hirofumi, Nakao, Tomohiro, Murayama, Keitaro, Suzuki, Yuriko, Honda, Hiroshi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: San Francisco Public Library of Science (PLoS) 24.07.2020; Public Library of Science
• Subjects: Abnormalities; Adult; Arteries; Biology and Life Sciences; Blood; Blood flow; Brain; Brain Mapping; Case-Control Studies; Cerebral blood flow; Cerebral circulation; Cerebrovascular Circulation; Cortex (frontal); Cortex (temporal); Error correction; Female; Females; Health aspects; Humans; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; Imaging, Three-Dimensional; Labeling; Labelling; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Males; Mapping; Medical imaging; Medicine; Medicine and Health Sciences; Mental disorders; Methods; Middle Aged; Neuroimaging; Neuroses; Obsessive compulsive disorder; Operculum; Patients; Perfusion; Physiological aspects; Prospective Studies; Putamen; Q; R; Research and Analysis Methods; Research Article; Science; Software; Spin labeling; Spin Labels; Studies; Substantia grisea; Supervision; Temporal lobe; Young Adult; Japan; United Kingdom > UK
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0236512

To identify abnormalities of regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in individuals with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) by conducting a voxel-based analysis of pseudo-continuous arterial spin labeling (pCASL) perfusion images. This prospective study included 23 OCD patients (nine males, 14 females; age 21-62 years; mean ± SD 37.2 ± 10.7 years) diagnosed based on DSM-IV-TR criteria and 64 healthy controls (27 males, 37 females; age 20-64 years; mean ± SD 38.3 ± 12.8 years). Subjects were recruited from October 2011 to August 2017. Imaging was performed on a 3T scanner. Quantitative rCBF maps generated from pCASL images were co-registered and resliced with the three-dimensional T1-weighted images, and then spatially normalized to a brain template and smoothed. We used statistical nonparametric mapping to assess the differences in rCBF and gray matter volume between the OCD and control groups. The significance level was set at the p-value <0.05 with family-wise error rate correction for multiple comparisons. Compared to the control group, there were significant rCBF reductions in the right putamen, right frontal operculum, left midcingulate cortex, and right temporal pole in the OCD group. There were no significant between-group differences in the gray matter volume. The pCASL imaging noninvasively detected physiologically disrupted areas without structural abnormalities in OCD patients. The rCBF reductions observed in these regions in OCD patients could be associated with the pathophysiology of OCD.