We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
PTSD REMISSION AFTER PROLONGED EXPOSURE TREATMENT IS ASSOCIATED WITH ANTERIOR CINGULATE CORTEX THINNING AND VOLUME REDUCTION.
- Authors
Helpman, Liat; Papini, Santiago; Chhetry, Binod T.; Shvil, Erel; Rubin, Mikael; Sullivan, Gregory M.; Markowitz, John C.; Mann, J. John; Neria, Yuval
- Abstract
<bold>Background: </bold>Brain structures underlying posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have been a focus of imaging studies, but associations between treatment outcome and alterations in brain structures remain largely unexamined. We longitudinally examined the relation of structural changes in the rostral anterior cingulate cortex (rACC), a previously identified key region in the PTSD fear network, to outcome of prolonged exposure (PE) treatment.<bold>Method: </bold>The sample included 78 adults (53 women): 41 patients with PTSD and 37 trauma-exposed healthy volunteers (TE-HCs). Patients underwent a 10-week course of PE treatment and completed pre- and posttreatment assessments and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) structural scans. TE-HCs also underwent assessment and MRI at baseline and 10 weeks later. PE remitters (n = 11), nonremitters (n = 14), and TE-HCs, were compared at baseline on demographic and clinical characteristics and ACC structure. Remitters, nonremitters, and TE-HCs were compared for pre- to posttreatment clinical and structural ACC change, controlling for potential confounding variables.<bold>Results: </bold>There were no baseline differences in structure between PTSD and TE-HCs or remitters and nonremitters. Following treatment, PTSD remitters exhibited cortical thinning and volume decrease in the left rACC compared with PTSD nonremitters and TE-HCs.<bold>Conclusions: </bold>These results, while in need of replication, suggest that PE treatment for PTSD, by extinguishing maladaptive trauma associations, may promote synaptic plasticity and structure change in rACC. Future research should explore possible underlying mechanisms.
- Subjects
TREATMENT of post-traumatic stress disorder; EXPOSURE therapy; CINGULATE cortex; BRAIN anatomy; MAGNETIC resonance imaging of the brain; NEUROPLASTICITY; ANTHROPOMETRY; BEHAVIOR therapy; BRAIN mapping; LIMBIC system; LONGITUDINAL method; MAGNETIC resonance imaging; RESEARCH funding; TREATMENT effectiveness; DISEASE remission
- Publication
Depression & Anxiety (1091-4269), 2016, Vol 33, Issue 5, p384
- ISSN
1091-4269
- Publication type
journal article
- DOI
10.1002/da.22471