Amygdala and hippocampal volumes in patient with antisocial personality disorder

Antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) is a particular disorder that starts before the age of 15, with a common anti-social behavior and breaks the rights of other people without regret. ASPD is diagnosed after 18 years of age for these people who are diagnosed as impaired behavior in their childhood. The most reliable diagnosis among personality disorders is ASPD. In recent years, neuroimaging studies have identified possible abnormalities associated with the characteristics of ASPS.In this study, we aimed to investigate the volume changes of hippocampus and amygdala in order to better understand the etiopathogenesis of ASPD. During the study, 20 patients who applied for The Department of Psychiatry at the Hospital of Fırat University and who received inpatient or outpatient treatment and diagnosed as ASPD according to DSM-IV-TR diagnostic criteria and who met the study criteria and 20 healthy control groups were included in the study.The patients were administered the sociodemographical data form ,the Beck Anxiety Scale , the Beck Depression Scale, the Barratt Impulsivity Scale, the Buss-Perry Aggression Scalescale, SCID I and II. Right and left hippocampus and amygdala volumetric measurements were performed in the patient and control group using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). In this study; we obtained the results that both right and left hippocampus and amygdala volumes of ASPD patients were significantly lower when compared to healthy controls. When the sociodemographic characteristics were compared, the results obtained were in accordance with the literature. When we compared the scale scores with the volumetric measurements, the resultswe obtained significant negative results. As a result, it can be said that the hippocampus and amygdala may be related to the pathophysiology of ASPD. It is thought that the studies that are carried out together with the imaging techniques that overlook the functional properties of these regions and the cognitive function tests will give more efficient results. Key Words: Antisocial personality disorder, Volume, Amygdala, Hippocampus, MRI