Thalamic volumes in patient with posttraumatic stress disorder and relationship with the clinical variabilities

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a psychiatric disorder whose properties of diagnosis were well-determined and characterized with re-experiencing symptoms (e.g., nightmares, flashbacks), hyperarousal and avoidance symptoms. Recently, in neuroimaging studies, some abnormalities that may be related to the signs and symptoms of the disease have been shown. In this study; it has been aimed to investigate the morphometric alterations of thalamus in patients with PTSD for understanding the pathophysiology. The study comprised 16 PTSD patients who had applied to Firat University Hospital Department of Psychiatry as out- or in- patients and had been diagnosed with PTSD according to the criteria of DSM-IV-TR and 15 healthy controls. The patients were administered the sociodemographical data form, Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale, Beck Depression Scale, Beck Anxiety Scale and SCID. The volumetric measurements of thalamus was performed on patients and control group by using MRI. The results of the present study showed that patients with PTSD had significantly smaller left and right thalamic volumes than healty controls. In addition, the reduced left thalamic volume was found to be correlated with CAPS symptom subscore C (avoidance/numbing). Finally, this can be considered thalamus has a relationship with both pathophysiology and clinical course of the disease. Our study suggested that the investigations which use together the imaging technique that examine the functional qualifications of this area and the tests research the cognitive functions, make us to provide to reach more important and effective results.