You are seeing this message because your Web browser does not support basic Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing and what you can do to make your experience on this site better.


ABOUT ARCHIVES
Advanced Search

Welcome   | My Account | E-mail Alerts | Access Rights | Sign In


  Vol. 57 No. 5, May 2000 TABLE OF CONTENTS
  Archives
  •  Online Features
  Original Article
 This Article
 •Full text
 •PDF
 • Reply to article
 •Send to a friend
 • Save in My Folder
 •Save to citation manager
 •Permissions
 Citing Articles
 •Citation map
 •Citing articles on HighWire
 •Citing articles on ISI (78)
 •Contact me when this article is cited
 Related Content
 •Similar articles in this journal
 Topic Collections
 •Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
 •Alert me on articles by topic

Decrease in Thalamic Volumes of Pediatric Patients With Obsessive-compulsive Disorder Who Are Taking Paroxetine

Andrew R. Gilbert, MD; Gregory J. Moore, PhD; Matcheri S. Keshavan, MD; Lori Anne D. Paulson; Vikram Narula; Frank P. Mac Master; Carol M. Stewart, RNC; David R. Rosenberg, MD

Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2000;57:449-456.

Background  Thalamic dysfunction has been implicated in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). While OCD frequently has its onset during childhood, to our knowledge, no prior study has measured neuroanatomical changes in the thalamus of patients with OCD near the onset of illness, and before and after treatment.

Methods  Volumetric magnetic resonance imaging studies were conducted in 21 psychotropic drug-naïve children, aged 8 to 17 years, with OCD and 21 case-matched healthy comparison subjects. Magnetic resonance imaging studies were also conducted in 10 of the 21 patients with OCD after 12 weeks of monotherapy with the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor, paroxetine hydrochloride.

Results  Thalamic volumes were significantly greater in treatment-naïve patients with OCD than in controls but declined significantly after paroxetine monotherapy to levels comparable with those of controls. Decrease in thalamic volume in patients with OCD was associated with reduction in OCD symptom severity.

Conclusions  Our findings provide new evidence of thalamic abnormalities in pediatric OCD and further suggest that paroxetine treatment may be paralleled by a reduction in thalamic volume. These reductions may, however, not be specific to paroxetine treatment and could be due to a more general treatment response, and/or spontaneous improvement in symptoms. Our findings are preliminary given the small sample size and our inability to measure discrete thalamic nuclei.


From the Departments of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences (Drs Gilbert, Moore, and Rosenberg, Mss Paulson and Stewart, and Messrs Narula and Mac Master), Radiology (Dr Moore), and Pediatrics (Dr Rosenberg), Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, Mich; and the Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, Pa (Dr Keshavan). Dr Gilbert is now with the Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.



THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

Brain activation in paediatric obsessive compulsive disorder during tasks of inhibitory control
Woolley et al.
Br. J. Psychiatry 2008;192:25-31.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Neurocognitive endophenotypes of obsessive-compulsive disorder
Menzies et al.
Brain 2007;130:3223-3236.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Measuring Brain Volume by MR Imaging: Impact of Measurement Precision and Natural Variation on Sample Size Requirements
Steen et al.
Am. J. Neuroradiol. 2007;28:1119-1125.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Increased Medial Thalamic Creatine-Phosphocreatine Found by Proton Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy in Children With Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Versus Major Depression and Healthy Controls
Mirza et al.
J Child Neurol 2006;21:106-111.
ABSTRACT  

White Matter Abnormalities in Obsessive-compulsive Disorder: A Diffusion Tensor Imaging Study
Szeszko et al.
Arch Gen Psychiatry 2005;62:782-790.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Interhemispheric Asymmetry of Brain Diffusivity in Normal Individuals: A Diffusion-Weighted MR Imaging Study
Fabiano et al.
Am. J. Neuroradiol. 2005;26:1089-1094.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Mapping Structural Brain Alterations in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
Pujol et al.
Arch Gen Psychiatry 2004;61:720-730.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Brain Structural Abnormalities in Psychotropic Drug-Naive Pediatric Patients With Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
Szeszko et al.
Am. J. Psychiatry 2004;161:1049-1056.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Reduced Hippocampal Volumes Associated With the Long Variant of the Serotonin Transporter Polymorphism in Major Depression
Frodl et al.
Arch Gen Psychiatry 2004;61:177-183.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Neuroimaging Studies of Amygdala Function in Anxiety Disorders
RAUCH et al.
Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci. 2003;985:389-410.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Neurotoxicity, Neuroplasticity, and Magnetic Resonance Imaging Morphometry: What Is Happening in the Schizophrenic Brain?
Weinberger and McClure
Arch Gen Psychiatry 2002;59:553-558.
FULL TEXT  

Prefrontal Cortical Volume in Childhood-Onset Major Depression: Preliminary Findings
Nolan et al.
Arch Gen Psychiatry 2002;59:173-179.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Increased Medial Thalamic Choline in Pediatric Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder as Detected by Quantitative in Vivo Spectroscopic Imaging
Rosenberg et al.
J Child Neurol 2001;16:636-641.
ABSTRACT  

Thalamic Volumes in Patients With First-Episode Schizophrenia
Gilbert et al.
Am. J. Psychiatry 2001;158:618-624.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Can Sertraline Induce Parkinson's Disease?
Gregory and White
Psychosomatics 2001;42:163-164.
FULL TEXT  





HOME | CURRENT ISSUE | PAST ISSUES | TOPIC COLLECTIONS | SUBMIT | SUBSCRIBE | HELP
CONDITIONS OF USE | PRIVACY POLICY | CONTACT US | SITE MAP
 
© 2000 American Medical Association. All Rights Reserved.